


Arya Stark beyond the Sunset Sea version 2 - In the beginning

by Marcus_S



Series: Arya Stark's Multiverse [10]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: A bit of bitching about Sansa Stark, Emotional commitment, Euphemisms, F/F, F/M, Hopefully some humour, Imperialism, Innuendo, Lots of detail about sailing, Maybe a romance, Might be considered AU, Multi, Not the middle ages, Other, POV Arya Stark, POV Original Character, Schoolgirls, Sea monster, Very minor violence, Video & Computer Games, a bit of real science, discussion of eating disorders, discussion of under age sex, maybe some fluff, mention of infidelity, mention of lesbianism, minor mention of menstruation, personal modesty, relationships, social comments, video games - Freeform, what makes you an adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 39
Words: 82,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28613022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marcus_S/pseuds/Marcus_S
Summary: A entirely different version of what happens to Arya after Season 8. New world, new plot, new people, suitable for Septa Mordane.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Original Character(s)
Series: Arya Stark's Multiverse [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779334
Comments: 29
Kudos: 6





	1. All aboard the Skylark

**Author's Note:**

> This work is in part [Chapters 1-13] a cleaned up copy of Version 1. Then it becomes a completely different story. This version is meant to be, as our American friends like to say, family friendly, so while sex and bodily functions may have to be mentioned occasionally, it will all be as non-explicit as I can manage.
> 
> Prologue by Arya Stark
> 
> This work is a record of what happened when I set out to find out what was West of Westeros. Early parts of it are written as a joint effort by myself and my skipper on the trip, Marcus Stanson. Other parts are more just my story, largely because Marcus insists life without me was too boring to bother recording.

I watched them walking down the quay towards my ship, the Petrel. It was supposed to be the family seeing her off but to me it looked more like “Prisoner and Escort”. The rest of Arya Starks siblings, legitimate or not, coming to see her on her way into exile because they couldn’t go to sleep at night with not knowing in whose body she might be lurking round the building planning her next revenge. At first I’d discounted as ale house tattle the stories of her being able to change into the form of another person, but it has been her elder sister Sansa who had confirmed this while paying me for my boat and crew. “My sister” she’d said with a slightly nervous look “has certain attributes that might be surprising”. So officially Arya Stark was “Restless” and wanted to “See what’s beyond the West”, but in reality she was being removed from an environment in which it was too easy to see chaos, death and destruction following in her footsteps.

Well they came to see me off, it was the least they could do and I suppose I should have been grateful they bothered. I wasn’t, I’d got back to my family without their help, killed the bigger of the two threats to them in the shape of the Ice King. I would have killed Cersei if the stupid Dragon woman hadn’t gone kill crazy and I wouldn’t have raised half of King’s landing and killed hundreds of innocent people on the way. People despise assassins and praise warriors, in my eye we’re both just killers, but assassins are a lot more selective. As a reward I’d been offered the ‘opportunity’ to do anything I liked as long it was well away from Westeros; so they didn’t need to continue to have to worry about ‘what Arya will do next’.

When I was approached to assemble this crew, I’d had wondered why they all had to be older men, single or widowed, like me. Why we were all to be paid handsomely in advance what amounted to a good years earnings and why there was to be no cargo on a cargo ship. Food and water, nothing but food and water had been when the penny dropped, we were going away and we were not expected to come back. In fact we were not meant to come back. We were going to sail into the sunset, literally, and just keep going. We were going to find some sort of fabled imaginary Western continent or we were going to die of scurvy or starvation if we didn’t. Finally and most telling had been Sansa’s observation that “If you were to find somewhere, we don’t really want to know about it. Westeros has enough problems without the arrival of the forces of a foreign empire. Just settle down there and enjoy yourselves”. So fourteen men plus myself, no idiots, they’d all sailed with me before, we’d all passed our pay straight onto our surviving children, said our goodbyes and were ready to go.

The boat in front of me was frankly, small, one mast, one simple square sail. I’d also been told by several people the crew were the scrapings of the dockside taverns, a collection of crocked old men who no one would miss and whose chances of survival were minimal in bad weather even before we’d reached Oldtown and set off on the real voyage.

She came down the gangplank quite nimbly, jumped down to the deck and walked up to me with an open face and what looked like an honest smile. “Pleased to meet you Captain, I’m Arya Stark.” She was small, not just short, but slim, barely more than a young cabin boy, only the baby smooth cheeks really gave away the fact she was female. He’d heard her called horse-faced, but that seemed unkind; I fancied if she smiled she might look almost pleasing. She’d dressed fairly sensibly mostly in leather and breeches, but she carried a slim rapier down her right side and had nothing on her head. Well they were two things that could be quickly remedied.

We’ll skip the hugs and kisses; I thought about leaping straight onto the deck from the dockside, then thought ‘why bother’ and walked down the plank provided. There was a man clearly waiting for me, tall average build, nondescript clothing apart from a red woollen felted hat, plenty of grey hair including the apparently obligatory face full of whiskers. I suppose shaving on a moving ship isn’t easy but you’d think when they got onto dry land they could try and make themselves look more like a human being and less like a wildling.

Well formalities first; “Good day M’lady”; I bent just far enough forward that you could call it a bow, without ever going far enough that someone might think I was seriously deferential. Firstly it was my ship, secondly I was getting old and rheumatism meant if I bent too far I might not straighten up again.

“My names Arya Captain, I’ve never been much of a lady and I don’t see I’ll need to start on your ship.” I thrust out a hand and when he clasped my arm made sure he felt a firm grip. I wanted him to realise early that I wasn’t a little girl he could treat how he pleased.

Well if they were going to Hell at least it appeared they’d do it in a companionable manner. “Well its Marcus Stanson then Arya, but as Master of this vessel I’m referred to ask ‘Skipper’ while we’re on board. Captain is for important people who don’t stand a watch and have servants and we have none of those luxuries here”.

Captain, skipper, he can call himself what he likes, I thought.

I looked forward, “Cast off then Haerd” and turned to the man behind me at the tiller bar. “Helm to port”. The first mates whistle sounded from the deck and with a crack the canvas fell from the yard and was hauled in getting the ship under way.

He turned away from me and started issuing orders and the sail was filling with wind and pushing us into the estuary. “Are you in a hurry - Captain”, I stressed the last word to see if he’d rise to the bait.

“Yes, the tides turning and if we don’t get out of port in the next hour we might as well stay the night, for we’ll just end up in the river with just enough wind to balance the tide and us actually going nowhere”. I was tempted to add “And I was told we should get under way sharply”, but I thought why bother, she knows what’s going on. I could see it written on her face as she stared back at the quay, where her family were waving with perhaps just a little too much enthusiasm.

No he didn’t react so I looked back as King’s Landing started to recede and there they all were waving, like I was on a day’s outing.

“So at this point I usually make some sort of bad joke about ‘All aboard the skylark for a trip round the bay’, but I have to be honest even I’m struggling to see the funny side of this voyage”. 

I looked at him, paused and deliberately smiled, “Oh come on skipper, you have no idea what excitement we might have and how much you might enjoy it”. If he wanted to play comedian with me he was going to get a big surprise, some of my jokes hurt.

Well there’s nothing like an enthusiast, the question was, was it real or was I getting the false face of someone not wanting to admit she’d been turned out by her family and sent off to die. “Now let me show you to your cabin and we can lose that bodkin you’re carrying before it hurts someone, probably you”.

I turned sharply to face him, “You are the master of this vessel, you are not the master of me” and turned away again just as the Petrel hit the first serious wave and pitched. I shifted my balance it wasn’t hard, but I didn’t expect a swinging scabbard to flick between my legs nearly putting me on the floor. I had to grab the side of the ship to keep my feet.

“As I said Arya, that sword will get you hurt. You’ve no need for anything other than a good working knife on this ship, so do yourself a favour and leave it in your cabin until we reach dry land again. Your cabin’s this door here”.

My first reaction was to snap back at him, but what was the point; all right one to him, there’d be other times. He was pointing at a door so I got a firm hold of Needle and walked towards it.


	2. Not enough room to swing a cat, particularly if it's spitting

Well I was on board and we were already moving towards the open sea. The captain hadn’t hung about getting moving. I knew little of tides and winds in those days but something more of politics so I suspected that time and tide had been arranged to ensure I would come down to the dock and leave. No time for much to be said, although what was there to say when you realised that even your own sister was terrified by the thought that you killed people on a regular basis and had no real qualms about doing so. So everyone had agreed to my suggestion that I go and find what was West of Westeros. I wasn’t even sure where the idea had come from. The last few years weren’t a blur, I clearly remembered every moment, including far too many unsavoury details, but they’d passed so quickly that once it was all over I felt a sense of shock and yes purposelessness, so West of Westeros had seemed an easy answer; however with the roll of the ship as it moved out to sea I was well aware that life was going to be very different for a long time in ways I had not really thought through.

There was not time now for introspection; a door was being pointed out to me, so I grasped hold of Needle firmly in my right hand and stepped across the deck and into the open door of my cabin. And stopped short, I’d no choice as I’d nearly walked into the wall. To describe the space as small was being generous, there was half a narrow cot, the other half of which went back up the side of the hull, a large box in front of some small panes of glass offering a rather murky view of the ships wake, a table just big enough for one place setting, a three legged stool and a sheet of canvas connecting wall to window.

I hadn’t followed her into the room, but was leaning my head in from outside. “It’s a bit cramped, but there’s nowhere else to put you, the hold’s full, there’s no space in the fo’c’sle and beside that’s no place for you and I’m not having you sharing with me; so we rigged up some timber up to the table level and the sailcloth above and you’ve got half what’s normally my cabin and I’m on the other side. This ship was never meant for comfort or passengers, still she sails better than those that are, so if you fancy living to find your mystical land you’re better off on her than anything bigger”.

I didn’t like the casual way he’d said that he wouldn’t share with me. I didn’t want to share with him, but I also didn’t want to be put down so easily “And why Captain” I stressed the title deliberately again “would you not share with me”.

“Simple, the crew would assume I’m bedding you and get jealous. This trip will give us enough problems without trouble in the fo’c’sle before we’re a day out of port”.

“Why would anyone assume I would let you bed me, Captain” again the stress on the final word.

“Because sailors have a different view of the role of women in life than you do. I realise that for what looks like a slip of a chit of a girl you’ve had a hard life and you’re not a child but there’s still a lot of life for you to learn about yet”. I paused and when she offered no reply went on. “When you’ve settled in we can share the view during the day. That line” and I pointed to a loose end of rope hanging from the top of the canvas by the Window “is a slip knot. One good pull and the canvas will drop down and we can share our food and be sociable. I’ve fixed it all on your side so you have control of when it’s closed or open”.

I turned to face him, he was altogether too self-assured and cocky, “I’m sure it will be fine where it is”. He closed the door behind me and I heard him move away from the door, then open the one on his side and move into the other half of the cabin. I heard a book open, he was clearly writing something down. I looked at the huge trunk taking up half the cabin. What was in it; I’d lived most of the last few years with nothing more than the clothes on my back and I didn’t suppose sailors were that fussy about personal hygiene since everything seemed at present to smell of salt. I lifted the lid to be confronted by a carefully folded brocade court dress.

I left her to her own devices and walked round to my cabin, sat down and pulled out my rutter. I had just started writing a brief note about the start of the voyage, and I’ll admit a few thoughts on my passenger, when I heard things being thrown around and cursing coming from the other side of the partition. I’d seen what was in her luggage when they’d brought it on board and I’d pointed out where some of it could be stowed beneath the bunk. I’d thought at the time that a lot of it was irrelevant, but it wasn’t my business so I’d said nothing. Now it appeared she shared my opinion. It seemed like an opportunity to help melt the ice a bit so I called to her through the partition “I assume you didn’t pack your own bags then”. All noise on the other side immediately stopped. I’ll swear I could almost hear her grinding her teeth.

“My baggage is, again, my affair thank you captain”. I shoved everything back in careless of whether it was folded correctly or not slammed the lid and sat on it. The ship pitched and I came off the trunk, it wasn’t designed to be sat on. I moved to the stool, that was stable but mean you had to sit up straight, which wasn’t relaxing or slump forward and lean on your arms, which I knew would crick my neck very quickly. It was clear you couldn’t sit on the cot as the high side, presumably there to prevent you falling out in rough weather, would cut up under your knees. I got into the cot and stretched my legs out into the extra couple of feet that projected under the steps to the deck above me. This would be fine for sleeping, there was room for someone much taller than me, but there was no back to sit up against, I had no choice but to lie down and stare up at a set of bare wooden planks. After about 2 minutes I was sick of the view. I got up, walked out of the cabin, down the length of the ship, climbed the steps and walked right to the bows. Standing right next to the bow I wrapped one arm round the rope coming down from the mast and stared out to sea.

Standing on the deck, I took a look round the ship. We’d cleared the spit at the mouth of the harbour and were running down the estuary. Mentally I ran through the first leg of the journey; we had to go right round Westeros to Oldtown restock food and water so that we could start out on the voyage proper. Sansa had apparently pre-arranged that supplies would be ready and paid for. I had a chitty for a chandler I knew in Oldtown charging everything to the Queen of the North, as she now styled herself.

I looked forward, Arya had been stood at the prow now since before I’d come on watch. That made it close enough to an hour and a half, We were running down wind but that didn’t stop the Petrel dipping her bow in a wave now and then and I knew she must be wet, and in this wind she would thus be cold. In view of my last attempt to be friendly backfiring I decided on an alternate approach. I turned back to stand by the tillerman “I’ll take her Haerd, do me a favour get a hat from somewhere and go and persuade her to put it on and ideally get her back in her cabin. She’ll catch her death up there otherwise”. Haerd looked down at me with mock surprise on his face “So you’re winning ways haven’t won her over skipper” “No, she as sharp as that rapier she brought on board, I’m going to have my work cut out on this one”. My ‘reputation’ as a ladies man with those of the crew I knew best was based on having been happily married for 35 years to the same woman; something none of them had achieved for a variety of good and not so good reasons. Haerd’s shoulders lifted in silent mock amusement and he handed me the tiller bar and headed into the fo’c’sle to find a hat. ~~~~

I heard footsteps behind me, had he come up to have another dig, but as someone cleared his throat in a very fake cough I realised it wasn’t Stanson but one of the other crew. I turned round and looked up to the biggest man I’d come across since my days wandering the North with Sandor Clegan. He was holding out another red felted cap and looking both embarrassed and a little frightened. “Beggin your pardon miss but you’ll catch your death standing there and gettin your head soaked like you are” and without waiting for my reply he reached out and put the hat on my head and pulled the sides down well over my ears. He then stood and looked at me like a puppy that had brought me a stick and wanted to be told he was a good dog.

There are some people you just shouldn’t hurt because you can and this mountain of a man looked so concerned and vulnerable that a lot of my anger flowed away. “Thank you, that’s kind of you, I’m sorry but no one had told me your name”. “Haerd miss”, “Well Haerd you have been very considerate unlike your captain. Who seems just to delight in making belittling comments”. “The skipper miss, I’m not sure what belittling is but he don’t mean you to be upset at what he says, it’s just jokes, we all joke miss. When things get bad it helps you forget you might be crab food tomorrow. No your big risk with the skipper is he’ll make you part of the family, treat you like one of his kids, spoil you something rotten. His daughter has him wrapped round her little finger whenever he’s on shore. You just got to smile sweetly at him and he’ll do anything you ask”. With this little speech concluded he turned to walk back down to the deck as the ship’s bell rang three times, he turned back towards me “that’s half an hour to the end of the dogwatch and supper. I’d get back in your cabin and dry out before that if were you”.

As he left me I realised that yes I as both very cold and very wet and also very tired. I was unconvinced about his assessment of the captain, but I did wonder if Haerd might become a friend.

Haerd came back to me and took the tiller bar back. Arya followed on barely six feet behind him and went into her cabin. As she passed him she smiled in his direction. “You did the puppy dog eyes didn’t you”. “Never fails skipper, still it got her inside. Its’ a bit raw up there she must have been freezing. She stuck it out though, she’ll not be the sort who spends the whole trip weeping and wailing on us. I think I might grow to like her”. I knew what Haerd meant by ‘like’ but I also knew that I could trust him to do nothing about it. He carried on “She says you’re belittling her, whatever that means, I don’t think she’s got the hang of sailors humour yet. I explained it means nothing but I think it would be good that you cut it out”. He was probably right, just back off and let her find her feet. I heard the cabin door open behind him and watched Arya emerge; swordless, which was a good sign and apparently in a change of clothing although it appeared her dress style was tight dark leather for all occasions. She walked towards us and came to a stop in front of me.

“Skipper, where’s the privy”.

Well that was a start I’d stopped being Captain. “What we call the heads is in the fo’c’sle, but as I said earlier you’re not going there. It’s the crew’s quarters and since the heads are basically a row of holes in the planking you’d not be wanting to remove your pants in front of half a dozen bored men. They may not be in the first flush of youth but they’re still men. There’s a bucket under the table in your cabin, the contents go over the leeward, that’s downwind, side of the ship, or on a windy day you’ll get them back full in the face and if it needs cleaning out you rope it to the nearest belaying pin and leave it in the water for a while. Doesn’t do any harm to leave some seawater in it when you put it back, deadens the smell a bit in your cabin”.

“Everything in my cabin smells of salt, in fact everything on this ship smells of salt”.

“That’s because you’re a landlubber, a couple of days, a week at most and you won’t smell it; another week and you’ll smell other things and wish it did all smell of salt then that’ll pass and you’ll wonder why when we hit land everyone is standing a fathom away from you”.

Well that would be fun, weeing in a bucket with its contents slopping around beneath me, but I didn’t see an obvious alternative so I thanked him and went back to my cabin. After I’d taken the bucket to the side and disposed of the contents I perched on the stool and tried to take stock of my situation.

Firstly – I’m on a ship heading eventually to the edge of the world, beyond what everyone knew of to see if the fables were true. While this sounded heroic, in reality it was all about getting away from ‘court’ for everyone’s good including my own.

Secondly - I knew practically nothing about ships. I had a vague idea that the bow and stern were front and back respectively, but I knew that sailors had their own terms for most things and their own ways of doing things about which I was frankly clueless.

Thirdly – the voyage would be months not days or even weeks and since I knew nothing about ships I would be able to do nothing. Long days of total inactivity lay ahead unless I learned to be useful.

Fourthly – I knew no one on board and they knew me only by rumour, which was unlikely to have given them anything but lurid exaggeration. Haerd seemed sweet, in the end I’d realised Sandor Clegan wasn’t as bad as I’d originally thought. Maybe I had a thing for big men, that idea made me laugh.

I resolved there was really only one answer to all this, I had to be pleasant to the skipper, whether he was pleasant back or not, to learn to try and be at least useful to the crew even if I could not manage to be genuinely competent as a sailor. There could be no prayer at night of the list of people I meant to kill tomorrow; if I killed anyone on this ship it was one less man to keep us sailing. Well Sandor had said I shouldn’t let myself be trapped into endless violence and revenge and it was true that I would have to leave that place behind at least for now.


	3. First steps

We changed the watch and I gave her enough time to sort herself out, then took her a bowl of beef and cabbage stew and a big lump of fresh bread. The door to her cabin had been wedged open so I simply leaned into the room and put it down on the table. “I’m going back for mine; do you want to eat alone or drop that sheet and we can talk. Maybe you can tell me what you know about the lands to the West we’re off to”. She took the bowl and pointed at the ropes end.

“I just pull and it comes down?”

“Pretty much, the slipknot will come undone so then there’s nothing holding it up”. Arya handed me back the bowl and gave the line a steady pull, the knot slipped free and the sheet fell to the table.

I return to my cabin a few minutes later with my own bowl to find her sat at the table looking into the empty bowl as she mopped the very last bits out with the last lump of bread. I was honestly impressed; I’d know ‘growing lads’ in my time, I’d been one myself, but she’d cleaned out a good meal in the time it had taken me to walk twice the length of the ship.

“That was good, I thought you lived on rotten salted meat and some sort of rock hard biscuit with maggots. The taste of cabbage was a bit strong though”.

“This is the first day out of port. The fresh meat will last four days if we’re lucky and the bread about a week; then it will be salt meat and biscuit. You won’t get the privilege of weevils until we’ve been at sea about a month, it takes a while for them to hatch see. As to the taste of cabbage I’ve made this observation, the more cabbage we eat the slower we get scurvy on long voyages so if you want to keep your teeth you’ll eat it. When the fresh stuff runs out you’ll get it fermented and pickled and then you’ll think fresh was good. Normally we’d go into port for fresh food several times on our way round to Oldtown, but I want to stay at sea as long as possible to get an idea of how fast we use up our stores and prove we can survive on it”. The look on her face said she didn’t quite believe some of what I’d said, but I thought I’d not push the matter, she’d learn although hopefully not when half her teeth fell out.

I sat myself down and proceeded to eat my food at a more leisurely pace. She sat silently at the table and watched me, saying nothing, it was frankly slightly unnerving, but then I thought, she doesn’t know me, she’s on unfamiliar ground, maybe I should lead off. So trying my best not to let my food go cold but also not to chew and talk I asked “Do you actually know anything specific about where we were going, have you brought any papers, charts, rutters, some description of the place”. That put a rather serious look on her face, the answer was obvious before she’d opened her mouth, no. She admitted it and her voice turned belligerent.

“No I really know no more than you do. I suppose you think it’s stupid doing this, some sort of rich girl’s fancy”.

“Whether you’re rich or a girl is immaterial, but yes it does seem a bit of an ill planned idea and you don’t seem like the sort who goes in for bad planning. I’ve been told you spent years with a plan of revenge and executed it almost completely. So that leaves me thinking that you know it’s a poor plan but the others were even worse. I’m guessing it was here, a convent, or a husband and a clutch of squalling babies and here has the advantage that folk with nervous dispositions don’t wonder how long you’ll stop where you’re put”. Her face fell and her shoulders slumped.

“I gather you’re widowed, but you have children and I’ll guess grandchildren, are you afraid of them, are your family afraid of you”.

“No they’re not afraid of me, although after years at sea I’ll admit I’m probably not the best of ‘family’ men. My wife always said I was too used things my way and no tolerance of others and she’s probably right”.

“I was nine when my father was killed in front of me, and I’ve spent most of my time since then working on killing those who did it and others who’ve wronged me and mine. When I finished I found the very people I thought I’d done it for standing six feet away from me, as if that would do them any good”. I stopped for a moment and looked him straight in the eye. “And now I suppose I’m killing you and the crew by taking us all on an impossible voyage to a place that might not exist and if it does I have no idea where it might be”.

Her voice was steady but her face said the consequences of her actions were hitting home. I thought it might be useful to change the subject, but it was difficult not to address the very obvious truth of her statement.  
“Well do we have any other options, the seas a big place, coast lines are long, I could drop you off in plenty of places that no one would ever know and you could just walk away and make yourself some other life where folk don’t know you. We could sail around a bit over the horizon until your family would feel they’ve had their money’s worth and then come back with a sad tale of you going over the side in rough seas. I could claim you’d tried to do something we’d all said you couldn’t but you’d tried to prove us wrong. I suspect they’d swallow that”. I got a grin out of her for that.

“Won’t work, the new King, my brother; he has visions; knows what’s going on miles away and sometimes almost into the future”.

“Suppose you did your shapeshifting act. Would he know then”. This got a raised eyebrow.

“So you’ve heard about that then”.

“The whole of Westros has heard about that, although I’ll be honest I didn’t believe it until your sister confirmed it and I suspect many more intelligent folk will assume it’s just a story, which just shows sometimes being intelligent doesn’t get you to the right answer”.

“No it’s true, but it has its limits, I have to concentrate on holding the form so I don’t think it would hold if I slept. It’s a good question though, would Bran see through me in his visions or not. Something I might have tried out if I’d considered it sooner. No sadly for you I think my best chance of a future life really is to try and find the land in the West of the Sunset Sea”.

“So tell me what you do know”.

“Elllisa Farman, a Targaryen, on a ship called Sun Chaser, found three uninhabited islands generations ago, which she named Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya. Elissa continued sailing west and was never seen again. However, it’s said her ship, Sun Chaser, was spotted in Asshai, the port city in east Essos”.

“So that implies someone made it all the way round then and there is nothing much West of Westeros except what’s also East of Westeros and in that case going East would be a lot shorter and much faster journey”.

“At least we won’t sail over the edge then”.

“Any sailor can see from the deck, never mind from the Crow’s Nest that the horizon curves at sea from side to side and when you sail away from somewhere it doesn’t get too small to see, the lower bits disappear first, castle towers tall cliffs go last, it pretty obvious you’re going over the surface of a ball, but how big the ball is, that’s another matter”.

“What did you mean by the Crow’s Nest”.

“Look up the mast, where the stays, the ropes from the side of the ship holding the mast in place, meet the mast you’ll see a small platform, it’s for the lookout, normally a place we send some skinny young lad as getting in and out needs a flexible body better than most of this crew can boast. It’s worth thinking about, if you sit in that cabin you’ll get mighty bored, unless of course you’ve brought your embroidery”; I slipped in a grin so she’d, hopefully, realise that was meant as a joke, however feeble “so if you stand watch with me it will let you learn all you’ll ever need to know about the ship and keep you occupied”. A smile, I might be winning here. However far into her teens she was she was still a child in my eyes and I wanted her to enjoy herself. Life had treated her badly so far and I’d decided I wanted to make things better for her. I realised if I told Haerd that he’d have just smiled at me and said that was what I did to everyone.

Well he’d made the offer so in for penny etc. “I’d like that, how does it all work, watches as you call them”.

I settled back in my chair, “It works like this”.


	4. Watch on, Watch off

Well I wasn’t bored; cold, wet, my hands blistered but not bored and keeping watch gave your day a structure. One watch on, two watches off, normally four hours, or eight bells as they called it ringing the ships bell every 30 minutes as the skipper or one of the mates turned the sandglass; but only two hours for the dog watches in the late afternoon so the watches rotated on a three day basis. Middle, Afternoon, First, starting at midnight, midday and eight in the evening all eight hours was the hardest day. Forenoon, last dog the best you got a good night’s sleep ‘til eight then the afternoon off and just a quick two hours after an early supper. Finally morning, up in the dark at 4 o’clock and the early dog at six, which sounded good until you realised that you wanted to be in your cot straight away as you were up again at midnight for the next round.

When I was on watch Marcus taught me the simple things I needed to know to be a deckhand, or deckie. We’d started with a tour of the ship, bow and stern larboard and starboard [from stearboard from the days when the rudder went over the side], into the forecastle or fo’c’sle, although not until Haerd had gone in and done a bit of shouting to make sure everyone had some clothes on. The crews bunks, only nine for fourteen of them because some were always on watch and the stack of their ditty bags, tubular canvas container with pretty well their total worldly possessions in them. The galley; with a brick area to burn a fire and a cauldron on top to cook in. The heads, two holes either side of the timbers of the bow post where you could hang your arse in the breeze and empty your bowels. It was crude and simple and no I wasn’t going to ask to be allowed to use them in full view of whoever was off watch, but at least the smell didn’t linger. The aftercastle, our cabin with a deck on top walled to chest height with crenulations to just like a real fortress. In battle soldiers could occupy it and fight from it. The skipper explained that the fo’c’sle should look the same but he’d had the walls knocked off because it made the ship sail better. The hold, entered through a hatch in the centre of the main deck, currently full of food and water so you couldn’t actually get inside. Beneath the aftercastle, accessible with difficulty through a hatch under our table, was the steering gear, large timbers linking the rudder in the water to the tiller bar that stuck up onto the deck; below this the bilges running down the bottom of the boat right through to the bows. Weekly someone dropped a line in to work out if there was enough water in them to have to bail some out. If you wanted to be pessimistic we were permanently sinking, but no else seemed bothered so I filed it under pointless things to worry about and forgot it. Then we went on to the mast and spar and sail and the assorted lines [not ropes] that held them in place and managed the sail. The different knots for different purposes and the belaying pins to hitch lines to; also apparently freely available for me to borrow should I get ‘frustrated’. That last information I gained from a comment made by an unidentifiable voice from 6 feet away and behind me and was met by laughter from the others in the group. Haerd passed a comment about little children and the laughter stopped.

It’s worth mentioning Haerd in more detail at this point. He was 4 inches taller and probably 4 stone heavier than any other man on board. He considered Stanson his father and would do anything for him; this meant that effectively he was the skipper’s enforcer. Haerd did anything the skipper wanted, if you didn’t want to do the same thing you could take it up with him, at the time, face to face. No one ever seemed inclined to do so. He was also apparently a genuine ‘a girl in every port’ sailor. Not for Haerd the risks and costs of the dockside brothel, no Haerd would find and charm a respectable widow, sometimes two and only for one visit. If he returned on a second trip it was a different woman or women. He had apparently only had one problem with this approach in 25 years, when it turned out he was simultaneously bedding mother and daughter and the mother worked it out. I calculated on a sort of law of average basis that he probably had to have fathered 2-3 children a year. One man claimed to have sailed with twins who were his perfect image on another ship. Suddenly his winning smile didn’t seem quite so attractive.

I learned this as I learned many other things from the crew, not by a face to face conversation; if I tried to talk to them I got the absolute minimum answer possible and they were moving away from me before they’d finished talking, but I would find as I was working on deck that two or three of them would be having a conversation near enough that I could hear every word, but far enough away that I clearly wasn’t expected to join in. This irritated me and I complained to Stanson “It’s like I’m not a person, I’m some sort of weird animal”.

Well on a ship behaving as one of the crew she was, but I could hardly tell her that. “To them you’re a princess and a killer, that’s two very powerful reasons not to want to have anything to do with you; but funnily they think you’re also ‘all right’ so if they think you need to know something they want to get the message passed on without coming to me every time. I’m impressed you’ve made that good an impression that quickly; I’ve known a new deckie take months to be accepted by an established crew”. I didn’t add that I knew they also thought she was ‘cute’ and that that had a lot to do with her acceptance. Somehow I suspected she wouldn’t see that as a positive thing.

Once I’d got the basics and could actually help the crew instead of just getting under foot we moved on to the master’s skills of navigation, heaving the log to find our speed, then plotting our course by dead reckoning of time and speed and direction from the log book. While we were on the way to Oldtown he had tables of currents, the speed of the water under us to add to the plot so that he got a more accurate position and when we were in sight of land he would take compass bearings of recognisable things, castle turrets in known places as we sailed by to provide corrections. A lot of this he pointed out would be gone once we set out West. There would be no land and he would have no current tables. He could tell how far North we fairly accurately were by sighting the stars, the lower they were in the sky the further south we’d gone. To calculate how far West we’d gone he compared the time the sun was highest with the time from turning the sandglass, but as he pointed out, you only needed someone to forget to turn the glass one night and that system became quite inaccurate quite quickly. He had prepared a big roll of parchment with Westeros a pretty small set of squiggles on the far right edge and a scale that he assured me meant we’d run out of food and water before we ran out of map.

Off watch was another matter. It took a about a week, for me to learn none of the other crew, not even Haerd, would actually speak to me unless they must, and thus realise that Marcus Stanson was now not only my sailing master but also my only real companion. In one sense it was easy, he could talk, and talk, all I had to do was sit and listen, but sometimes it felt a bit too much like I was the compliant child being lectured to and that rankled. He was, I learned, well over 60 years old and had been sailing since he was a boy of about 10. By 30 he was a Master Mariner and by 35 he owned his own boat. He’d sailed pretty much every part of the known world at least once and thus had set foot in virtually every port and mixed with every culture, or as he kept putting it ‘every known culture’. He had an idea that foreign places might also mean foreign behaviour, very foreign behaviour. I’d learned by now not to take everything he said too seriously, but this wasn’t typical of his slightly warped sense of what things were funny. Who knew if the idea of unknown peoples with strange ways might not turn out to be true. He seemed very serious when he asked if other people had to be totally human, maybe mermaids really did exist and we’d have to learn to swim everywhere.

Eventually I realised I had to do more than listen, so trying not to sound like I was arguing for the sake of it I started to challenge his ideas. He was fine with that, in fact I think that was his idea, get me to challenge him, but he could then be very direct and personal and I found having my mental privacy stripped away a lot more challenging than the unavoidable loss of actual privacy of being on small ship.

I remember she asked me to help her sort out her clothing. She wanted a bit more space in her cabin, she was clearly jealous of my armchair and wanted to make room to buy one of her own when we stopped at Oldtown. Her sister had loaded her with some seriously bejewelled court clothing. There was a note with it ‘You may well need this when you arrive, to create the right impression’. The note went over side with a curse and the dresses, corsets and shifts would have gone with it had I not persuaded her that we could safely lose it all in Oldtown before we set out on the real voyage. We’d been at sea long enough that there was space in the hold as we ate our way through its contents so I suggested we put what she needed under her cot and the rest in the trunk below deck. So we went through the trunk to make sure nothing useful was in the lower layers. It was good job we did, at the bottom was a solid layer of gold coins, enough money to buy my boat twice over. As she admitted, tipping that in the sea would have been a waste.

Then I put my foot in it. There were a bundle of rags with tapes, I’d been married 30 years so I knew what they were and just idly tossed them to her to put in her cot. She caught the bundle and just held them and looked at them. “They may only be spares but best keep them where you can get them even so”. There was what could well have been called a pregnant pause in other circumstances.

“Actually I don’t need them. I think it’s because I’m so small it hasn’t happen yet”.

It was obvious I’d hit a nerve so I tried to brush it off. “Just dump them under your bunk then and I think we’re finished”.

“I suppose this will mean you’ll think I’m even more of child. My sister always told me I wouldn’t be properly grown up until it started. Of course she’s a foot tall than me so she started years ago, back before the killings when we were just a family in a castle”.

“I think your sister like a lot of young girls was just trying to score a point; in my book you’re not really grown up until you’ve had children; I know I wasn’t. I’ll never forget the first time my wife showed me our daughter, so small and so totally dependent, that was frightening. Storms and sinking I can face that’s my job and in the end if you’re times up it’s up, but knowing that someone had to look out for that girl for years and would be judged on how well she grew was truly frightening”.

“So if I’m never going to have children I’m never going to be grown up in your eyes, you’ll always treat me like a child”.

“Firstly don’t just assume you’re never going to have children, but no. I’m not treating you like a child when I teach you to sail am I.

“No”.

“So you get treated by me as you behave, when you know nothing I teach you, when you’ve learned I respect your abilities. I’d have thought that was how you wanted it, not me kissing your ass because you’re the Princess of Wherever”.

“It is what I want, it’s just that I don’t feel I can ever have your forty, fifty years extra experience and you know that and you’ll always treat me accordingly”.

“Well, all I can say is I’ll try not to, but I have to be honest, I’ve had this conversation with my real daughter, and she’s a mother of two now and she said much the same things as you so maybe something’s you just have to put in the same bracket as the weather and If I’ve taught you anything I’ve taught you…”.

“The weather is what the weather is, live with it”. It was his favourite catechism, trotted out whenever he wanted obedience. It was also a conversation finisher whenever it suited him, because it was the most obvious unarguable truism of sailing; the weather did what it did and you got on with using it as best you could. We finished repacking my trunk and got it below so I had more room in my cabin, no chair yet but more room meant I could sit on the floor with my back against the stern timbers and my legs in font of me. It had been a worthwhile time, but it the process he now had a better idea just how young I was. It was like he was undressing my mind layer by layer the way some other men would undress a woman before sex, slowly and deliberately to emphasise her vulnerability and I didn’t like it. He did it in a way that suggested he meant no harm, but how could I be certain. It wasn’t a physical fear, I could gut him any time I liked if he put a hand where I didn’t want it, but he was challenging the way I thought at every turn and that was harder to deal with.


	5. HiStory

We had some spare time on an afternoon watch and I got the feeling she’d heard enough of me for a while so I sat back after we’d eaten. “So all these stories I’ve heard about you, what’s true and what’s just the noise of the wind in the rigging. I’m sure it’s a bit of both and in one sense I don’t much care, because on this ship you’re a different person, but I’d like to know”.

I ignored the opening question and went for the second statement “Why am I a different person on this ship. I am who I am”.

“Yes and no, deep down inside there may be a real you, but that real you has to live with what the world throws at it. We’re all just sailors on the sea of life”

“Oh please spare me that line again, it does get repetitive”.

“Repeating something that’s true doesn’t make it any less true. It’s quite obvious if your father hadn’t been killed, if the wars hadn’t started, you’d almost certainly be a quite unhappy young woman either newly married to whoever your father wanted an alliance with or waiting for him to make his choice and you wouldn’t think the solution to your problem was killing someone; but those things did happen and so you aren’t. In one sense you might decide you’re in a better place, or you might not. So my point is, on this ship you are very literally sailing different waters from your previous life on Essos and Westeros. You know you can’t murder your way out of this because you’ve already realised sailing this ship isn’t a one man task”.

“You’re right up to a point, but after those years I have experienced I cannot be the same person I’d have been if they’d never happened”.

“I still say yes and no. If I genuinely believed you were a simple killer I’d have said no to the voyage. I take you half way round the world and you get off the boat and knife the first man you meet who upsets you, or decide to poison us all first meal after we’ve tied up because we made a few jokes at your expense on the way over. No I wouldn’t waste my time, never mind risk my life to do that”.

“So you think by the time you’ve got me to the other side you’ll have saved me from myself”.

“No, because I can’t change you, that’s something only you can do, but I hope I can have shown you a different sort of life and that you will choose to change yourself to live in a different way that is more suitable to that life”. 

“You still seem to be saying I’ll change because of what you do, don’t you think that’s a bit arrogant”.

“I suppose maybe it is, but that’s what a ships master has to do; believe he has the answers and get others to see things his way so the ship is run the way he wants it. I’ve heard very persuasive men argue that nobody knows anything; we just kid ourselves we do so we can go to sleep at night. I can see the sense in that, I sail my ship like it will always do what I want, but I know a sudden breakage or really bad weather means she’ll do something I have no control over. If I worry about it I’d never get up in the morning much less put to sea, so I don’t, I go on giving my crew orders and since we’re still alive I tell myself I’m actually pretty good at getting it right”.

“But I’m not a ship, I’m a person”.

“And the crew are people; a ship isn’t just the wood and canvas and hemp it’s all those and the people working it too”.

“But I’m not exactly what you’d call your typical sailor am I”.

“No and that’s why I’d like to understand more about you. I’ve heard a bucket full of stories from people who don’t know you from the mad dragon lady, or my mother. I want you to tell me something a bit nearer the truth, at the least your version of the truth”.

“As you’ve observed, the truth is a very debatable subject. What happened to me happened to me. Before I left King’s Landing Brienne of Tarth came to me and asked a lot of questions. I’m pretty sure she’s going to write the official Stark history of the war. Somewhere else bitter widows will be teaching their sons another version so they can restart the whole thing again in ten or fifteen years’ time when they’re full grown. Even from the Stark perspective, there’s what really happened to me, what I’m willing to tell Brienne, what she’s willing to write down, all different histories, all really just stories. Most people will never read the official version, but oral tales will spread round the taverns with more sex in them and round the ladies embroidery circles with a lot less". 

“Then in forty years’ time when most of those who were there are dead someone will come along to revise the history to please a different master. Depending on who that master is I’ll become an out of control evil killer, or a sanitised hero little girl just trying to survive. It will all be a story; it won’t be the reality I lived through”.

Her voice cracked; she looked like she might be just about to start to cry or scream so I sat quiet for a while. The while stretched, someone rang three bells, her head had gone down into her lap, but then she lifted it and looked back at me.

It took me a minute, maybe more than one, to calm down. Why did I tell him things that upset me. “So what sort of story do you want me to tell you”.

“The one you want me to understand, the truth as you see it, the things that matter to you. Like I said I’ve heard plenty of other people’s stories I want to hear yours. I can make up my own mind whether I believe it”.

It wasn’t an unreasonable request, so why was I reluctant to answer him. Surely I wanted him to know my side of things, or was I afraid when I told him he’d decide I wasn’t a person who was worth his time and effort. Was I that afraid of my own past. I couldn’t let myself believe that, as he’d said you have to believe you’re doing things right or you don’t get up in the morning. “All right then, but it will take days not hours to explain it all, to get even close to everything that happened. I don’t think I’m boasting when I say I’ve managed to get a lot of living into a very short time”. 

“We’ve got a long trip and I’m a very patient listener”.


	6. Snippets

Stanson was right he was a good listener. It became just a little surreal, a bedtime story; we’d lie there in our cots, we’d long given up bothering about the screen, and I’d talk to him while we both stared at the decking above our heads. When I got tired I’d stop and we’d go to sleep. He asked a lot of questions, but never passed comment, never said what he thought was right or wrong. When I went through his rutters years later I found he’d made notes about some of things I’d said. Reading them back was quite painful; he was good at picking up the pieces that had hurt me in all sorts of different ways. I suppose that was his aim to understand why I was hurt so he could show me something better.

These are the things Marcus noted down

She tries to love her sister, but says it’s hard. Despite Sansa doing what she calls ‘the perfect princess act’, she says Sansa’s just as hard-nosed and competitive as she is. She’s older, she’s bigger, so of course she grew up before Arya did but even when she was in pain from the cramps she would stuff it in Arya’s face, that it made her more of a woman, more grown up, better, more desirable. If she’d not done that Arya wonders would she have become what she is or would she be happily married and pregnant back in King’s Landing. She observed that I’d already realised it was a sore subject. As an assassin it should be an advantage, one less distraction allowing her to concentrate on the job. The same on this ship, but she feels it’s still a little worm inside her every day reinforcing the hurt.

She has another problem with Sansa. She thinks she’s also a lot more attractive than she is. She knows all about the ‘Arya horseface’ comments, she thinks she’s got eyebrows like a man’s, very small breasts and no real bum. Long before she could shapeshift she played being a boy so often she wondered if she was a boy and she’d just been born with the wrong bits between my legs. The only thing that convinced her it wasn’t like that was that she didn’t like girls; but she didn’t like boys either, she thinks she just didn’t like people. She’s still not sure she does. She says that there’s a part of her that thinks about dying and becoming one with her direwolf Nymeria as the best way forward. Somehow the idea of being a mother of pups seems better than the idea of being the mother of children.

She says she lost any sense of personal modesty travelling with the Hound. When they first started out he wouldn’t let her out of his sight, so she got use to squatting in front of him. Her words were “The reality is if a girl squats a man standing doesn’t really see anything, it’s the fact that you’re exposed, your legs are wide apart that’s the risk. You’re being suggestive, saying I’ve opened my legs, you can take advantage of that”. She knew Sandor didn’t want her for sex, in fact he wanted her intact to sell to people who valued that sort of thing, so she didn’t feel at risk. Once she’d realised that, she felt it wasn’t so frightening and it’s only humiliating if you think that way. To her the humiliation was that he had control of where she went and who she met, that if he could get a good price he would sell her to someone.

Valar Morghulis, she thinks it’s a stupid truism, of course every man, and woman, must die. Valar Dohaeris is in her words “Even bigger ballcocks [I think that's the word she used]”, she’s known plenty of people who serve no one but themselves and in her opinion then pretty stupidly because they couldn’t see that idle selfishness wasn’t good for them, but they kept it up until their deaths. Finally the idea the killing someone is giving them the gift of release from the struggles of life and is thus a holy thing sickens her. She’s upset that she got involved in that sickness. She thinks whether she did it for her own ends or not doesn’t alter the fact that to have done it makes her a sick person.

She lost her virginity as she put it “In the sense my parents would apply”, to a man the night before she expected to die in the battle against the Ice King. She said he was very gentle and considerate , but afterwards they lay there next to each other with a huge silence between them. She’d known him a long time, since she was little. She said it almost felt like he was family and she thought he felt it even more than her because maybe he still saw the little girl she hadn’t been for several years. She felt it got worse when they both survived the battle. She knew that however much she felt for him emotionally it wasn’t enough to overcome her aversion to the idea of marriage and children.

Sandor Clegane told her not to become obsessed with revenge and then went off and died precisely because he was. She’s come to realise he was no worse than her, that they had a lot in common. That frightens her, he couldn’t drop his obsession and it frightens her in case she’s already too far gone as well. She wants to believe in a happy ending, but she has no idea what her happy ending can be, she just knows it won’t be found in a life of eternal killing.

Her family are scared of her and what she’s become. She said this on day one and she came back to it later, then quickly moved on. I think that’s what hurts most. Even if she was badly abused in the brothel it was by people who might be expected to abuse her and she’s had her revenge; her family ought to love her and they don’t and she didn’t see how she could take revenge either.

She’s vague about her age, claiming she lost track of time. She likes to imply she’s about eighteen, but my guess would be nearer fourteen or fifteen. I think that she’s doing it to try and get a bit more respect.


	7. Oldtown

We ran downwind into Oldtown a couple of days ahead of my expectations. As I’d been told things had been arranged so it didn’t take us long to replenish the food. I’d talked it through with the two mates Piot and Adulf before we’d arrived. The wood for the stove took up too much room. We were agreed we’d only forty days if we took wood to eat hot food, but could manage sixty if we left most of the wood out and accepted that we’d be living on cold food most of the way. As a result we packed more cheese than I’d normally carry and less meat and lots of pickled cabbage. We’d been at sea for a month and no had shown any signs of scurvy so I was sure that it was a good idea.

It was a busy time and Arya just wasn’t big enough to carry the sack and barrels of food into the hold so when she’d asked permission to go ashore I’d just said yes and let her go. It was therefore a bit of a surprise when she arrived back in the middle of loading with a collection of people in tow. I went down the gangplank and met her on the dockside. “Good to see you back, you’ve brought some friends”.

“No skipper I’ve brought a jeweller, a dressmaker and two porters”. I pointed out each individual as I named them and they all bowed to the skipper as I’d requested of them before we’d approached the ship.

“And we would want them because….”

“Simple, the jeweller and the dressmaker will be taking all my court clothing and the chest off my hands, highest bidder wins, or they come to an arrangement, whichever. The porters” here I indicated a large wrapped shape they had by this time lowered to the ground “have my new chair. I couldn’t get an exact match for yours but they will go well enough together and I won’t have to perch on a stool. I turned to Arya “As milady wishes it shall be done, but can we deal with the dresses here to avoid getting in the way of the men loading any more than necessary”.

Sarcastic bastard “Of course, once the chair is in place these men can bring the chest back with them”. I turned to the two expectant purchasers, “If you would be so kind as to wait here I’ll return in a few minutes with the goods”. I indicated that the porters were to follow me and we went past Stanson onto the Petrel.

I stepped back from the gangplank to let her through. There was a bit of me that wanted to be mad she hadn’t asked, but it was getting overruled by the bit that realised that everything she’d done made sense. Even on board ship in my environment I would be a fool if I underestimated her.

While we were in port we also removed the curtain and timber under the table and were both pleasantly surprised how much space that created even after she’d installed her chair; which to no one’s surprise was just that bit larger than mine. I had the last laugh over that though when it became obvious her legs didn’t quite reach the floor when she sat in it.

Along with getting rid of the large chest and all the clothes she didn’t want Arya made a healthy profit even after paying the shipwright. Some of the jewels were apparently worth more than even she’d realised. We ended up with a small chest full of gold coin and one large blue gem that apparently no one could afford. She joked that I could use it to buy her out of slavery if the need ever arose and I suggested it would be a fool who would buy her as a slave; so the issue of Captain and Milady had become just more water under the keel.

And so we sailed from Oldtown at the start of our real voyage of discovery. Getting out of Oldtown into the open sea involved a lot of tacking across the estuary into a head wind but once we were out we turned West North West and ploughed into a heavy sea. No one looked back; it was going dark anyway so I don’t know when we lost sight of land. It didn’t really matter it was the next time we’d see land ahead of us that counted.

I did look back, but I made sure the skipper didn’t see me. Then I wished I hadn’t. He was right the voyage was the thing, arriving was always an anti-climax and thinking about what I as leaving behind, and why, sucked any pleasure out of life so why do it. It didn’t matter why I was on the ship what mattered was standing my watch, earning the respect of the crew, yes and of Stanson, and looking forward to what new sights tomorrow would bring.


	8. Sailing West

We set off West, one long port tack as hard in the wind as we could sail to maximise our western mileage. Marcus said he knew we were also drifting south in the currents but we’d agreed it was the best course. Life became very monotonous, watch on watch off. Our daily routine in the cabin became equally settled. We shared the cabin; any need for a curtain had disappeared before we reached Oldtown. In what I might otherwise have derided as false modesty we always undressed facing our own cot and we always used our own door. Marcus never said it but I’m sure he felt he’d achieved something by this and it was true that I had become more relaxed in his company than I was with other men, for that matter with other people; but I felt it was precisely because he left me alone in lots of ways I didn’t think any other man would. In one sense that was good, but why was it so easy for him; was it just the benefit of old age, or was it that there was something about me he just didn’t like. 

I’d pretty much finished telling my life story to Marcus before we reached Oldtown so I decided I was entitled to ask him about his. The answers I got were so banal that I thought he had to be fobbing me off. It was an aristocratic cliché that the small folk’s lives consisted of getting up in the morning, working all day and going back to bed at night, interspersed only with random acts of sex or violence and I challenged him from that viewpoint. He replied that of course there was lots of detail but he wasn’t going through it all day by day as that would bore me. He said I needed to ask him specific questions about things that interested me in his life. That was embarrassing because I realised that I wasn’t interested in most of his life, which made me feel shallow and just like the entitled aristocrat I was but didn’t want to be. I didn’t write these conversations down in the detail he did but I do remember a discussion about this point.

“I feel like I’m treating you like someone who doesn’t matter and that doesn’t make me feel good. However much my sister paid you for this trip you’re not my servant. I know you know that but I think any normal person would be interested in you if they had to spend this much time in such close company”.

“So you’re not interested in me, you’re interested in appearing normal to me. That seems something different entirely”.

“But isn’t it the same thing, don’t we all want to appear normal because then we fit in”.

“That’s true, but what if a specific person isn’t normal, not because of who they are but because of what they’ve learned and how they’ve learned it. If you’re saying that they have to pretend to be normal to fit in then surely you should have pretended to want babies got married and you’d have fitted in where your family expected you to fit in. You didn’t and I’m pretty sure you were right not to”.

Definitive approval, that was unusual for him, still it was nice as well. “So you’re admitting I’m not normal. You’ve avoided saying that for a long time but now you’re admitting it”.

“I don’t think there’s such a thing as normal. I think that’s the big problem people have with each other. We all want everyone else to be like us, or to conform to some expectation of ours of how they should be”. 

“So I’m not normal but no one else is either”.

“Yes”.

“OK, so if no one is normal then you aren’t normal and I want to know in what ways you aren’t normal”.

“Too easy and you won’t like the answer, I’m far too inclined to do what seems right to me regardless of what other people think”.

“Why”.

“I don’t know”.

“Seriously, that’s not just an end of discussion line like ‘the weather is what the weather is’”.

“No very seriously, over the years it hasn’t made my life easy. If I understood why I was like this I might try and do something about it. You could say it’s arrogance because I always think my way is the best way, but I’d just move the question forward and say what makes me arrogant”.

“But you’ve told me I don’t have to remain the person I am now, couldn’t you change too”.

“I could and over the years I’ve learned to say less that might upset people so I have changed, but like you and, at the moment, babies there are limits. In one way I’m not being honest saying I don’t know why I’m like this, I do, I take after my father, he was the same. So like breeding big cattle from a particularly big bull I’m true to type; but that doesn’t answer the real question it just shifts it to my father”.

I didn’t like the way he’d said ‘at the moment’ about babies, but I’d let that slide because it was a distraction. “So to go back to my first question then, I’m interested in why you’re not normal”.

“And I’ve answered it as best I can and it’s a fair question even if you didn’t ask it directly. I think if you want to know more about me you should ask me when I tell you to do things why I did; maybe not at the time on deck but later in here”.

“Fair enough but that makes it easy for you to keep big parts of yourself hidden by just not letting it get into the things we need to do to sail the ship. What about those other things”.

“Then you have to work out what those things are and you have to frame a question that I can reasonably be expected to answer, because I can’t explain a lot more of life than I can. You’re not a fool, if something about me matters to you you’ll realise it and you can ask. If you have some vague feeling you don’t understand me but can’t put it into a question then it either doesn’t matter or I probably don’t know the answer anyway”.

I realised I did have a question, ‘why are you taking all this time with me’, but I also realised I was afraid of the answer he might give me so it remained unasked.

Looking back on that conversation I also realise that it was more about me than him. He was good at that, turning your questions back on you. It makes me wonder if even now I ever really knew Marcus Stanson, but then he’d probably have said something about him not really knowing himself.


	9. Becalmed

We’d been at sea for nearly five weeks and were making good speed when I went off watch so it was surprising to hear a lot of shouting on deck. By the time I got out of the door we were swinging round, I heard the instruction to the tillerman to take a Northerly bearing. I looked up expecting to see the sail filling with the wind nearly fully behind it, but instead was confronted with a sail starting to flap as the wind died. In about 10 minutes we lost all way and the ship was becalmed on a glassy stretch of water. I climbed to just short of the Crow’s nest, away to the north you could just see the sea surface rippling as the last of the breeze disturbed the surface, but in minutes the effect had gone, we were surrounded by dead water.

I’d seen the skipper curse in a sort of lackadaisical way, it was what sailors did, but this was different, he was stamping around in the aftercastle using words I’d never heard before and a lot I had endlessly repetitively and angrily. I looked at Haerd who was stood at the bottom of the steps to the aftercastle. He looked at me and grinned “He’ll calm down in a minute, just let him work it out of his system”. Eventually the stream of abuse stopped, there was five minutes of total silence and then the skipper came back down.

“Am I allowed on my own deck then Haerd”.

Haerd didn’t seem perturbed by the question, “As long as you’re done with the bad language, her ladyship is mightily upset her being well-bred and of a sensitive disposition”. Stanson turned to face me.

“My lady I do most humbly apologise and beg your forgiveness for my outbreak of uncourtly address”, I threw in my best grovelling bow for good measure.

Haerd’s eyes were on me and just for once in his life he looked serious. I wasn’t certain but I thought this meant I should take the whole thing seriously too. “Your apology is accepted sir, may I know the reason for such a profane outburst”. He slumped onto the bottom step, which uncharacteristically left him looking up at me.

“I may just have killed you, and I might add, the rest of us”.

He said it with such a tone of finality that I realised this was not a joke. “We’re becalmed, which I presume is the cause of your concern. You expect this to last more than a few hours”. I’d learned the wind strength varied even in what the skipper referred to as the trade winds, due to their predictability so I presumed at some point it would return.

“Yes, I’m probably over reacting but I once came across a ship drifting in from the West. Not a Westeros vessel, something from a long way South of us. The crew were still on board, dead and dried out. The captain’s rutters were in his cabin. I got the last few pages translated; they’d been becalmed for 30 days and simply run out of water”.

“Well let’s look at this practically, we’re probably going to run out of food or water someday, does it matter whether it’s while sailing at full speed, or being becalmed”.

I’d forgotten the killer in her. We’d started to get along, I think she had started to trust me and I’d certainly felt that maybe she was changing a little, but this brought us back to square one. Every man must die and who really cares. “Well Arya, irrational as it seems I want to sail to my death not float there with no wind behind me. We’re all called sailors not drifters. Maybe you’re not quite one of us yet”.

That stung, I’d been making a big effort to fit in and to be useful, to be one of the crew and he was saying I wasn’t. “I don’t think I’ll ever be entirely one of you, I hope I may become a sailor one day but I know I’ll always be a sailor and an assassin, and some other things beside. You may have gone from your mother to the sea and really nowhere else, but I haven’t and I can’t forget. I don’t want to forget the other things I’ve done; they’re a part of me. I’m not saying it’s wrong you’ve been nothing else but a sailor, you’re probably very lucky, but you’re not me”.

“True and you’re right, I’m the one who hasn’t had the trouble you have in my life, but it does matter. It also matter because we’ve come this far South and we could have stayed further North and been at less risk of running out of wind. So in a way this is my fault, hence my shouting and swearing. Still what’s done is done and it’s not worth any more argument”.

“So what do we do now”.

“Can you swim”.

“Yes”.

“Then throw the ladder down the side and have what might be the only bath you’ll get this trip. The lads can go over the other rail, but give me a shout when you want come back up and I’ll have a cloak on the side for you”.

“And if the wind gets back up”.

“Oh I think we can hang around long enough to pull you back on board”.

“Kind of you to be so considerate; I’d have thought it was the ideal way to ‘lose’ me”.

“You know, stupid as it seems, I’ve decided that it’s worth the effort to make sure we either die together on this trip or we don’t die at all”.

He kept saying things like that and I was fairly sure he meant them. Sometimes I wished I could be so willing to commit myself to someone else’s future.

I kept my clothes on. As we’d moved south the leather gear had become totally unsuitable so I’d just taken it off and worn a shirt with a belt round it. Then someone mentioned aloft and I realised I was in no condition to have anyone below me and looking up. Piot was my rescuer, lending me something he called a ‘hussif’ containing sewing gear, crude and thick thread definitely not embroidery standard but good enough for me to rip a pair of shirts apart and cut and sew the bits back together to make two pairs of pants, nothing clever, two tubular legs long enough for modesty into a body that came to my waist and tied together with some tape and my best reef knot. The only thing I took off was my belt and knife, no need for it and no point in risking it coming out and me losing it.

I climbed down the rope ladder and eased myself in to the water. It was warm almost luxuriously so. There was nowhere to go so I just trod water gently, floated on my back for a while trod water a bit more. I could hear yelling and shouting from the far side. It was obvious some of the crew were in the water there enjoying themselves. I thought about the concept of ‘bathe’ and rubbed my hands over myself. Nothing seemed to be actually coming off but I suppose when I got out I would have removed a layer of the sweat and body oil so I was probably cleaned in some sort of non-specific way. The ship was getting slowly slightly further away from me. Somewhere in my mind a lesson on currents told me this meant we were probably still moving despite the lack of wind. It then occurred to me that it also meant if I stayed here long enough the ship might drift far enough that I couldn’t reach her so I set off back. In the end I got back to the ship quite easily. THat had been pleasant and was something I was going to repeat.


	10. Hug me like I've never been hugged before

We’d been becalmed four days; Stanson said we had to be moving with the current as the ship was very slowly rotating in relation to the sun, but there was nothing to show it, the water was a glassy surface. Without the breeze it was hot and you got sweaty within half an hour of sunrise so we’d all made a habit of swimming sometime in the afternoon. I was floating on my back, not really thinking of anything, vaguely listening to the noises the crew were making on the opposite side when the shouting suddenly seemed to increase and the skipper stuck his head over the rail.

“Get out - Fast”.

I didn’t wait for anything more and struck out for the ships side, but I’d let myself drift a fair way from it and suddenly a large reptile head reared up between me and the ship and then struck at my head. I twisted and pushed my right arm up. It came down on my arm and shoulder, the fangs went in, I tried to poke my finger in its eye but the angle was wrong I hadn’t really got any purchase. I felt the body coil around me as it spun me in the water. Mouth full of water, spit, try and breath in and realise that I can’t its wrapped round me and squeezing.

I saw the head come up from under the boat, rear up and strike at her. Haerd went past me and dived in. I knew he was a better swimmer than me and looked round and grabbed a gaffed boat hook from the stack of tools round the mast.

I could feel myself being squeezed – don’t panic just don’t breath out so it can get a tighter grip. Then a knife appeared and went into its eye. The snake convulsed, twisting in the water several times. I felt for the knife, got it, pulled it out, tested the blade it was a working knife edged on one side only, turn it do the blunt side is towards me and stab/slice across the neck under my right armpit. We came out of the water, I couldn’t help it I had to try and breath, but the grip just got tighter. On the plus side the water was going red, there was a lot of blood, I’d hit something important, now it was a case of who went first but the grip didn’t slacken and my eyes started to see red spots; I thought it might just be me.

I saw Haerd stick his knife in the eye and then get thrown away as the snake spun several times. Then I saw Arya get hold of the knife, pull it out of the eye and slash at the throat. Blood sprayed everywhere and the snake almost leapt out of the water. I launched the spike into its head, it went well in and the gaff caught. I started to pull and yell for some help. Piot and Varda grabbed the base of the pole and we pulled the thing out of the water and onto the deck. It was still thrashing and Arya was still clamped in its coils not moving. We fell on it, probably about six of us, someone handed me a long handled axe, I turned my back to Arya and swung at the snake’s body. It was big but not that big, the axe blade went most of the way through and below the cut the muscles relaxed as the spine was severed. I heard a smashing sound behind me and a piece of reptile jaw flew past my head. I turned round and saw Haerd, dripping wet twist the axe he’d smashed into the side of the upper neck. There was sickening snap and the rest of the head flew off, the rest of the body went limp. Piot and Varda lifted Arya up and away from the snake’s corpse, put her down and started to pump her back assuming she was probably full of water.

I threw up, and then gasped frantically for air and realised I was still alive. I could hear a ragged cheer from the crew and then someone picked me up and carried me into my cabin and put me face down on my cot.

I stood gasping for breath, I’m getting old fighting sea monsters is a game for young men. Since most of the crew were my age we were all a fairly sorry bunch, bent double and gasping for air. I pulled myself upright and looked round; Haerd was coming out of Arya’s cabin. “She’s in her cot and breathing skipper, she’ll be alright for a minute or two”. Reassured I took stock, firstly counted heads, everyone was there, no one appeared to be bleeding, although it was hard to tell as several were covered in snake blood. I asked the obvious question “Everyone all right” and got a chorus of agreement, followed by some choice comments about our age and the inadvisability of further bathing. The corpse lay on deck, I think there was about 20 feet of it and at its thickest point it was probably a foot across. I was about to tell Piot to chuck it all over the side when I saw Arya appear at her cabin door.

I could feel pain in my right shoulder and forearm, looked and saw puncture holes where fangs an inch across had penetrated. Nothing felt numb but I needed to know. I dragged myself up and went back on to the deck. “I want the head and a knife”.

She came across the deck to the top part of the head, took the offered knife from Haerd and sliced delicately down the side of the nostril, turned the blade and flensed the skin away, second cut and a layer of muscle came off. She regarded the view of the exposed flesh carefully, she was clearly studying something. “Looking for something specific”.

“Yes the poison sacs; and there aren’t any. It makes sense, it was clearly a constrictor and at that size there’s plenty of prey in the sea without needing poison.” He looked puzzled so I went on “As an assassin you learn to dissect a dead snake to remove the sacs to get the venom to edge a small blade. Concentrate the venom enough and you can scratch someone and know they’ll be on the floor not moving within 5 minutes”. I got the look I was getting used to, what I called resigned disappointment; again I’d proved that while I might be moving on I was still bringing a mass of baggage with me”.

“Seen what you need to see then before we clear the deck”.

“Yes, thank you”. I stood up and felt myself stagger. The adrenalin had run out and my legs had gone soft underneath me.

She stood and then started to fall over, Haerd and I grabbed an arm each and as I got a look at her injuries I realised she’d probably lost a fair amount of blood. “Back in your cabin Arya, have a lie down and I’ll wrap some cloth round the holes before we stich you up”. She tried to take a few steps as we went but it was mostly our effort got her through the door and into her chair. I sent Haerd to get the fire lit and get some water boiling. We didn’t have much wood left but I wasn’t going to stich her without cleaning the needle and thread. I looked at the holes, two completely thorough her upper right arm from the top jaw and two in her shoulder from the bottom jaw. She’s been lucky to get her arm up, if it had bitten her in the head, she be dead.

He was checking the wounds, massaging them so they bled, which seemed sensible, use the blood to clean out anything that might be in them waiting to rot and cost me an arm. He was hurting me, but with good intent so I did my best not to make a noise and lay still so he could get on with it. He went under my cot and pulled out some linen rags and wrapped them round each wound and used the tapes to tie them off. I couldn’t help laughing when I realised what they were and he gave me a puzzled look. “I don’t suppose my sister imagined that we’d need these for snake bite, when she put them in my luggage”.

“No, but it’s also a good job I put them in here so you kept them”.

“Fair point”.

I’d got her bandaged, now I needed to get just a bit drunk. I knew I had a couple of bottles of Brandy somewhere but they might take some finding. I turned back to my cot shoved the bedding aside and started to dig things out.

He’d done a decent job on my wounds but now why was he rooting around in his stuff. I saw him pull out and black bottle. “We’re going to celebrate are we. I thought you were keeping that until we sighted land”.

“Medicinal use first”. I pulled out the stopped and handed it to her. “Get about half of it down you and leave the rest to wash the wounds”.

I looked at the size of the bottle he’d given me, “Half of this and you’ll have poisoned me. You’re going to stitch the wounds, that’s alright. I’ve had worse, you’ve seen the scars and no one bothered to give me anything before they sewed them together”. I took one mouthful just to show willing, it hit the back of my throat like a knife and I collapsed in a fit of coughing.

I took the bottle as she bent double “It’s probably stronger than you’re used to, we’d normally water it down to drink it”.

I finally got my breath back “All the more reason that was quite enough”. Haerd came into the cabin with a bowl and put it in my cot. Inside was a sailmaking needle and some twine. It was all a lot larger than the had been used on me before, maybe I did want another mouthful of spirit.

She got up onto the table face down so I could get at the holes in her shoulder, Haerd climbed up and half sat on her and held her down and I pulled the boiled needle and twine out and started stitching. She moaned a bit, but pretty much held still as I worked. It wasn’t that long a job, three stiches in each puncture hole and she was done. As long as she didn’t get a fever she’d mend in a couple of weeks. Just about the time we’d run out of food and water. I wiped the surface of the wounds with the brandy, that made her jump and then she slid off the table and across to her cot. She was still quite unsteady on her feet, I wasn’t sure if that was blood loss or she didn’t have a head for drink, but whichever I left her to sleep and went back on deck.


	11. Land Ho!

They told me later I’d never had a fever, but when I woke up there were all sorts of weird memories floating around, of Nymeria, of Haerd and Stanson, of looking down on the Petrel from above with no sign of the crew. Elog the second mate was sat in my chair, he offered me some water, fresh water, we hadn’t had fresh water for weeks, where had it come from. I was about to ask but he was already heading out the door “I’ll tell the skipper you’re awake miss” and he was gone. So somethings hadn’t changed. Stanson came into the cabin with a smile on his face.

“Today is definitely a good day”.

“Where did the fresh water come from have we found somewhere”. I realised the boat was rocking gently, we weren’t under way but it wasn’t the motionlessness the flat calm had produced.

“Yes and no. I’m pretty sure we’ve found your three islands, They’re old volcanos, one a fair size the other two barely large enough to say they’re there”.

“Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya, I didn’t think you planned to go that far south”.

“I didn’t, there have to be strong southerly currents, but it makes sense if the previous expedition found them, they probably weren’t trying to go this way either”. 

“How long have I been sleeping”.

“About two days, and pretty deeply, I’ve checked the wounds three times and you haven’t stirred. Everything’s healing well all shades of red and pink, nothing yellow or green or brown”.

“So you’ve been ashore and got some fresh water”.

“Not just water, there’s fresh pork for dinner and breadfruit, ever had breadfruit”.

“No, I assume you pull it off the tree and bake it and it tastes like bread, sounds like the sort of tale sailors make up to gull landsmen in taverns back home”.

“Well you can have some and make your own mind up. I’ve told you before there’s stranger things across the seas than you think you can imagine”.

“Can I go ashore then and have a look”.

“No, it’s pretty much as you described it and that includes the lizard things. They don’t move very fast but there are plenty of them and they hunt in packs so you can stop here where it’s safe. We seem to be able to get ashore for an hour or so then they turn up, coming down the beach trying to cut us off from the boat. One big one even swam out after us. The pig was a bit of luck, the lizards were chasing it and it ran straight at our lads. It’s not very big, more a piglet really, but it will make half a dozen meals each before it’s back to the cheese. Oh and Piot’s watch saw the sister of the snake that had you at sea, up a large tree. He said it looked like it was waiting to drop on anything underneath”.

I shuddered. The snake had been far too near my death for comfort, the memory of the red spots before my eyes and the enclosing darkness came back unbidden and unwanted. Change the subject “I can feel us rocking, has the wind got up”.

“Yes, it started yesterday evening otherwise we’d have drifted past by three or four miles, it’s not much but it’s from the North East so we can make much better time West from here. I’ve sailed to Ebonhead before and the trade winds shift as you get South. If we head just a point south of dead West we’ll get a bit more strength before long. Like I said it’s been a good day, we’ve got food, some fresh water, and you’re looking healthy. By the way you need to make a short visit forrard to say thank you; while you were out they all insisted someone should sit with you so pretty well every one of them has spent a couple of hours by your cot. I knew they’d accepted you as one of us but I didn’t realise you were that popular”.

I faintly remembered a cheer as I’d come round on the deck. Had they all forgotten this was probably a death ride in my name. Still as Stanson had said we were sailors as long as we were going somewhere and what was over the horizon was tomorrow’s problem. “How much longer do you intend to stay here”.

“We’ll be off at dusk, one more run ashore by the off watch to grab a last boat full of food off the trees and if they’ve time refill a water keg. The lizards seem to be getting use to the idea we’re here and turning up faster. Besides the winds there but it’s not strong, I wouldn’t want the doldrums to catch us again; although the currents still Southerly so we’d drift down into the wind”.

Two hours later we were on a broad reach heading dead west on the compass, so according to Stanson’s calculations probably about West South-West and the wind was filling with every hour so by midnight we were making nearly 5 knots.


	12. Storm

I’d barely got to sleep when the call went for all hands. I dragged myself out of my cot and shoved my feet into my boots. Despite the hassle of looking after them in the salt air I still couldn’t get used to going barefoot in the rigging. That might have saved my life; by the time I got on deck, most of the crew were on the ratlines and going up. If I’d been quicker I would have been in with them, but as I came out the door Piot yelled at me to loose the weather sheet with him. We took the line, eased off the turns on the belaying pin and started to let the line out as the hands aloft pulled the sail up, keep the tension steady so they didn’t have to deal with an out of control flogging sail, but allow the line out as they took the sail in.

By the time I got hold of the sheet the wind was already blasting past me, the ship was pitching, we were both struggling to do the job and keep one hand on something solid so we didn’t go overboard. Water hit the deck in large waves smashing everything around and as it went back over the side it tried to take the two of us with it. I heard a scream and saw a man fly off the mast and into the water; one down. The sail wasn’t rising anywhere near fast enough, there were two cracks right next to my ears and one of the lashing broken stays clipped my head. The other took Piot full on the side if his head and knocked him out cold. He slumped at my feet. I had to decide fast, get hold of Piot or lose control of the sheet. I grabbed Piot by his leather belt and dragged him to the lee of the ship’s side. The loose sheet ran away and the sail was flogging free, for just a second, then more stays snapped and The timber of the mast started to creak. I could see the men coming back down as fast as they could, everyone had realised the mast was going and no one wanted to be off the deck when it did. 

There was a horrendous crash and the mast splintered about twelve feet off the deck. Everything rained downwards, mast, yard, rigging, sail, people. I crammed myself as close to the rail as I could get to try to use it to protect me from anything heavy. I still had hold of Piot’s belt in my second hand, but he was a lot heavier than me and the pitching deck meant his body kept trying to slide to the other side. I hung no for all I was worth, one hand for Piot, one for me. I had time to think of the number of times I’d been told when aloft, one hand for the ship, one hand for yourself. Well at this point Piot was the ship, my job, keep him on deck in the hopes he was only unconscious and not dead. There was a second of calm and I pulled him closed and got my whole arm through his belt. That was better my fingers would never have held my grip for long, but now I had him half on top of me, half beside me.

I don’t know how long it lasted; I lost tall sense of time and feeling in my arms, but I didn’t lose Piot, he was still in his pants, his belt was on his pants and my arm was through his belt. Then just as suddenly as it had started the wind died. 

I could see Arya under the weather rail, hanging on to Piot. She was as safe as anyone on board. I’d gone to the tiller with Aelf and roped the two of us in place. As soon as the mast had come down the wind had swung the boat nose on, that’s why I’d kept the aftercastle but flattened the f’oc’sle above the deck. With no sail the whole ship behaved like a weather vane and naturally swung her bows into the wind, almost always the safest position in a storm. We still worked the tiller to keep her there, but I got to look around, there was smashed work everywhere and bodies in various places, some moving so obvoisuly alive others I wasn’t so sure about. I didn’t try and count heads, the bows were out of site and number could be safely in the fo’c’sle, although there was one body, was it Adath, with his brains all over the deck. I was just wondering how much longer it would last when just as fast as the wind had risen it died. I knew we were almost certainly in the eye and had maybe 5-10 minutes maybe even less to do things before the second half ripped over us again. 

Stanson untied himself from the wheel and came across to me.

“Get Piot and yourself in the cabin and stay there. The wind will be back in minutes and the best thing you can do is keep him and yourself safe in a cot until it’s passed”.

“You’re sure there’s nothing more important I can come back and do”.

“No, there’s not much any of us can do and the more of us under cover the better. Now hurry or it may be too late”.

I got into a half crouch and dragged Piot across the deck. Stanson’s door was the nearer so we went in that and thus his cot was closest. It was now I realised why sometimes the crew just told me to stay away from a job. I got my arms round Piot’s shoulders and heaved, I got him up high enough to go over the edge, but found I had neither the reach nor the strength to get him properly in. I tried to get him onto my shoulder so my legs were doing the work, that was better but as I threw his upper body into the cot my own when with him and I had to dig myself out from underneath him to get back out and lift his feet in as well. For a second I thought about ignoring Stanson and going back out to find someone else to help, then I heard someone shout a warning and the ship tipped violent as the wind hit us from the side and then spun us round. I bounced off the sternpost, cracked my head on the deck above as the ship fell off a wave and landed in a heap on the floor. 

It took two tries to get myself into the cot with Piot and wedge myself so that neither of us moved and got thrown back out. A big wave hit the stern and smashed most of the glass, water poured in across the deck and out the now flogging cabin door. I suddenly realised why there were two handholds one on each side of the cot, if I grabbed both I was a lot more secure. It was at this point that Piot started to moan. Good he was alive; I wasn’t wasting my efforts on a corpse. He started to move around under me, which made keeping hold harder so I yelled “Lie still, you’re making things worse” in his ear. He opened one eye and looked at me, it clearly took him about a minute to process who I was then his eyes widened. Until that moment my position hadn’t really occurred to me but I now realised I was lying on top of him my arms spread-eagled to hold the cot sides and my legs wrapped round his lower body. I knew Piot’s sense of humour so thought I’d get my comment in first. “I know you’ve been dreaming about this moment for weeks, but try not to get too overexcited”. Only the wind was howling in through the broken glass and I realised he hadn’t heard a word. 

Piot twisted his body round and wedged himself further into the corner, then pulled me towards him. I heard “Foot in the hole” and realised if I moved up and used my foot in the side of the cot I could get a grip with my hands further up and we would both be wedged a lot more firmly. We were now both a lot more secure and I had one leg flexing to take the movement of the ship so my shoulders didn’t keeping hitting the hull as often. We stayed there for about another 20 minutes then the pitching steadied out to a point where we both realised we could move around. Piot looked back out of the shattered window. It was still pitch black so I don’t know what he hoped to see but whatever it was it seemed to convince him it was safe to move. He climbed out of the cot and turned to me “Next time you want me in bed with you lass there’s no need to knock me out first, just ask nicely”. Before I could think of anything to reply he was going out the door. I swore to myself, but that was it, timing was everything.

I followed him onto the deck, Stanson was still at the wheel.

The wind had eased, the storm had blown though. I saw Piot come out of the cabin, he didn’t look very steady on his feet but he was up and walking which was good. Arya followed him out, soaking wet but otherwise pretty obviously unharmed. “Piot get forrard and get the uninjured organised to clear the decks. Arya go with him and just count heads, come back to me with how many of us are still here and how many are injured. If Haerd’s on his feet tell him to look to the injured”.

We both made our way over the debris of the mast and rigging, I noticed Piot looked far from steady on his feet and was having trouble getting over things. I made it clear of the wreckage first and got into the fo’c’sle. Elog was coming out with four of the crew so I told him “Skipper wants the all the fit except Haerd aft” and he led them the way I’d come. As they went past I started counting, two at the wheel, five going aft was seven, myself and Piot nine. Piot was stood just my side of the wreckage in a rather ‘what do I do next’ stance so I went back and brought him into the fo’c’sle. Haerd was inside, nine. “Heard I’ve got Piot here, he’s had a bang on the head and while he’s stood up I’m not sure he should be”. Heard turned and looked at Piot, then gently manoeuvred him into a cot, Piot didn’t resist. “How many more in here the skipper wants a headcount”. Heard pointed at three recumbent bodies, plus Haerd himself that made thirteen; but then he said “Don’t count Hrad, he’ll not wake up again, his necks broken”. I realised the man he’d pointed at was apparently looking backwards; shit only twelve then. Suddenly I wanted to be outside in the fresh air, I made it to the side and tried to throw up, but it was hours since supper and there wasn’t anything in my belly so I just retched and heaved for a minute. I’d seen plenty of dead bodies, I’d held some of them as they’d died and it had been my hand doing the killing, why suddenly so squeamish. The realisation hit me hard, these were my friends and there was no revenge to be taken for their lives. We would just have to carry on as best we could without them. ‘Twelve’ I said to myself ‘the skipper needs to know twelve’. I pushed myself away from the rail and made my way back thought the tangle to the wheel. 

I saw her go to the side and throw up. I hadn’t expected that of her. Clearly it also meant we weren’t all safely still aboard. Elog had three men with him and they were starting on cutting a chunk of spar that was on the deck clear of the rigging so we could re-use it. Aelf had the tiller, the wind had dropped away and we weren’t going anywhere so he was fine by himself. Arya was coming astern now so I moved to meet her. 

“Twelve in total skipper, Piot and two others in cots injured with Heard, Hrad’s in the fo’c’sle but he’s dead, so that’s three missing”.

“Adath’s under the lee rail, or what’s left of him is, so that leaves two who probably just came off the mast as it fell”.

A bit of uncomfortable memory came back to me. “I saw someone go overboard from the yard before the mast fell”. I could feel tears running down my face. These men would be on my conscience, this was my trip and they’d paid the price.

I put an arm round her and pulled her close to my side. I knew what she was thinking, I was thinking it too, but I’d had it happen many times before over the years so I might not like the feeling but I knew we had things to do to keep the rest of us alive. “Sailings a bastard of a job Arya, but it’s far too late to wish we weren’t doing it now. Go help Elog, he’ll want lengths of rigging cutting clear and stowing safely so we can re-rig later”. I saw her feel for her knife, it was still there, she looked back up at me and nodded. I released my hold and she walked cross the deck. 

I walked over to Elog wondering how much of a job this really was, but he pointed towards a loose and untangled sheet and told me to start with that one, get to the other end, cut it free if I had to, coil it round my arm and then put it in my cabin, come back pick the next longest I could see and keep going. I got two good lengths of thinner rope, then one of the main mast stays, I couldn’t get that round my arm but I pulled it into a loose pile and then started again pulling it into the cabin. When I came back out Elog shouted me over and pointed me at a bunch of knotted line and told me just to cut the lot where they were attached to the ships side. I don’t suppose when Gendry forged my knife he had this in mind, but it stayed as sharp as a razor and I was sawing through ropes for quite some time. 

At one point we all stopped and stood back. One of the men swung and axe at a main stay that was by this time taught and as the line parted the remains of the mast that had been hung over the side dropped free and was gone taking a lot of sail and rigging with it.

Dawn broke about half an hour later and we all stopped to look round the deck. The mast was a twelve foot stump split down the middle, about a twenty foot length of the main par was down one scupper, about a third of the mainsail was on the other side in a roll and my cabin was half full of coils of line I’d amassed. I looked for the body of Adath under the rail but it wasn’t there. He’d been cleared away, either overboard or into the fo’c’sle.

“All hands go forrad, light the fire and get some hot food down you”. I’d taken the tiller not that there was anything to direct really. The wind after all the violence of last night had dropped. 

I went with everyone else, no one said I shouldn’t. Piot was back on his feet and looking more like he understood what he was doing and he and Haerd were fanning the galley fire to get it going. Elog pulled a bottle from somewhere and pulled the cork. “In memory of those who aren’t here and in thanks that I am” he said and took a swig and passed it to the man next to him, who repeated the toast, drank and passed it to me. I got the words out at the third attempt, and took too big a mouthful and choked on it. Someone took the bottle from my hand and someone else patted me on the back, which probably didn’t actually help, but no one made any sort of comment about me as the bottle continued round. The fire wasn’t drawing well, the wood was sodden, so Piot cursed it fluently once and handed round a tack biscuit each. We didn’t normally eat them dry, they were soaked to soften them, but I just put it between my teeth and gnawed bits off. I probably hadn’t eaten for twelve hours, I’d had virtually no sleep, my head hurt from several hard knocks and my arms had been sawing at rope for the last two hours, but at that moment I was just going to gnaw the biscuit into crumbs, nothing else was registering.

I was about half way down it when I realised someone was shaking my shoulder. I looked up to see Piot in front of me. He motioned me to move sideways and when I had sat down next to me. “I’m not going to make a fuss because I don’t think you’d want that, but you saved my life last night and I want you to know I’ll not forget”. He didn’t wait for me to reply, which was good because I couldn’t have said anything if I’d tried, just got up and went out onto the deck. 

Piot came out of the fo’c’sle and walked back towards me. He looked a lot steadier on his feet than he had a couple of hours ago. He told me they couldn’t get the fire to burn due to the wood being wet. We surveyed the salvage left on deck and discussed options to produce a jury rig. I knew he was coming round to telling me something, but I let him set his own pace. “Your girl” he said eventually; she was always my girl to Piot “she’s a good ‘un. You need to tell her that pretty soon because she’s not in a good place after last night”. I indicated my agreement and he went back to get hands to start fitting the spar to the mast and cutting the remnants of the sail to fit.


	13. Things don't get any better

I sat in the fo’c’sle for quite a while. No one said anything they just left me to myself. Some went out and started work, other were me just sitting. Then the skipper came in.

“Arya I need you aft, Elog said you did a lot of good work clearing the decks and I really need to you to come and help out with the jury rig”.

I pulled myself onto my feet. I felt very tired but I pushed myself to walk after him out of the door. As soon as we were on deck he turned to face me.

“Half of what I said in there is true, Elog thinks you did a good job last night and I saw you with Piot, he’d have gone overboard if you hadn’t hung on to him and he knows it. The other half however was to get you out the door. You look out of your feet, if you want climb over the rigging and get yourself in your bunk”.

“So you don’t want me to help with the jury rig”.

“Yes there are jobs I want you specifically to do because being small will make it a lot easier for the rest of us and I know you’ll do them carefully which is also important, but to do those jobs I need you to be alert and awake, in part for your own safety, so if you need a few hours in your cot first it’s the best way to do things”. I didn’t want to order her, Piot was right she looked in shock, she desperately need sleep, but I knew if I pushed she’d fight me on principle, it had to be her decision. She stood looking at me for a good minute then her body sagged.

“You’re right skipper I need some sleep”. I turned and started towards my cabin door.

“Use my cot, you put all the lines in your side, you’ll spend half an hour clearing it out”.

He was right I changed tack and headed through the right hand door, kicked off my boots and rolled onto his bedding. As soon as I put my head down I realised it smelled pretty strongly, the odour of Marcus Stanson, but then my cot had to be just as bad, you just don’t notice your own smell. However bad it wasn’t it didn’t stop me falling asleep.

It was a good four hours later before she emerged. We’d finally got the fire going and boiled some mutton so the first thing I did was send her to get her share. In the time she’d been asleep I’d had more time to think about how the rigging was going up and my original plan to fix the mast and then use her to go up the mast to set some of the running rigging had been changed. She came back towards me with her bowl of food in her hand.

“Right skipper, let me finish this and I’ll be ready for whatever you need”.

“Don’t rush, while you were asleep I’ve rethought my plan and your daredevil ride to the top of the mast has been replaced by the far more sensible option of fixing everything to the spar first”. I waited to see if this was acceptable.

“You’re the boss”. I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not but I also didn’t care, last night had been enough excitement for a while.

That was pleasantly straightforward. Now what did I want her to do, the next job was raising the spar and lashing it to the mast stump. As soon as the ropes took tension she’d be either too short or too lightweight there, but: “Arya take the tiller will you”.

It was silly but I felt excited, “Aye skipper”. I turned and walked back to where Elog was stood put my hands on the tiller pole “I have her”. He nodded, let go and walked forward. It was silly we were going nowhere, there were no sails set and precious little wind to drive them if there had been, but for the first time ever I had the tiller. 

So the four biggest men lifting the half spar that was what was left of the mast, everyone else on a line of some sort, Haerd nearest the mast to exploit his height to the maximum and up it went, actually quite easily. Now lash all the rigging in place and then take cable and go round and round the base of the mast to make it more secure. Ah another opportunity, “Elog take the tiller and send Arya to me please”.

I saw them get the mast up without me but that made sense, size mattered and I hadn’t got it. Then Elog came back to me and sent me to the skipper.

“Right Arya on Haerd’s shoulders, that way we can get the cable up another few feet”.

Haerd was already holding the heavy cable at nearly head height. I came up behind him and was wondering what next when Piot put his cupped hands next to Haerd’s backside. One foot in Piot’s hands, step up then the other over Haerd’s shoulders and I was up sitting round the back of Haered’s neck like I had with my father or Jon when I was two or three years old. Haerd passed the cable to me and I wound it round the mast and spar while someone below walked round the mast with the remaining length. It was harder than I’d realised, the total distance was virtually my full arm extension, the cable was heavy but we got another six turns probably three feet by which time we’d come pretty well to the end of the heavy cable anyway. Now it just had to be lashed in place with something a lot thinner and lighter. They passed the line up to me, but what was I going to do with it.

She was doing really well, now she’d got the lighter line “Start from the middle and come back to yourself both sides, then weave it like half hitches each time you cross it over, when you get to the ends tie it off with the best reef knot you can manage”.

Yes that made sense, but my arms were beginning to ache. Still no stopping now or the cable would just unravel and it would all need doing again. I got the line down to Haerd’s head height not without a couple of ‘Oh gods I’m dropping it’ moments and he reached up and took hold and tied it off. That done he stepped back and bent forward and knelt down so I could go over his head and onto the deck. We both stepped back to admire our work, he was rubbing his neck. I couldn’t resist, “Now after all the times you’ve called me a slip of a lass don’t you dare complain I weigh too much”. He grinned slightly ruefully, but it didn’t stop him using the term about me later in the day.

So we had the best mast we were going to get in place. Enough of the sail had survived to be cut down to make a triangle that would run from the bow to the mast and that was it. The main problem now was the lack of wind. As if last night storm had sucked all the wind out of the local area the sea was calm and the new sail just about drew enough to hold its shape. I could see a wake over the stern, but if we were making a knot I’d be surprised.

Next job. In all the chaos and disaster of the storm the ships boat was still lashed securely over the hold hatch. It was also in one piece, which would shortly become of great importance. “Right lad’s shift the boat and let’s see the state of the hold”. It took no time at all and the hatch was being lifted. I looked in and my heart sank. Inside was total chaos. Normally a cargo ships hold is full and everything gets wedged in against something else, but as ours held nothing but food, water and a small amount of fuel and we were now nearly sixty days out of port it was mostly empty. With hindsight if I’d had everything supplied in barrels however difficult it would have been we could have just kept moving barrels around, but enough of it had come in sacks that as it was eaten the hold had emptied. As a result things had moved in the night and once they’d started moving they’d started breaking. I ordered the crew below with orders to clear out the broken things to the deck, but not put anything overboard, then take an inventory of what was left. It wasn’t as though I was expecting a massive quantity, we’d been at sea too long for that, But I thought we needed at least three or four days’ worth to have any hope of getting far over the horizon.

I hadn’t mentioned it anyone but Piot and couple of the others had been giving me knowing looks for a couple of days. The trade winds had eased and there was just a hint of a morning land breeze and then a sea breeze in the wind patterns and the meant we couldn’t be too far from some sort of shore, and probably something bigger than the three little specks we’d found a few weeks back.

I was one of the first three down into the hold. Although things were broken it was still cramped for space in some directions and I fitted in places and could reach things no one else could. It didn’t take long to identify the problem. Most of what had come loose had been the remaining full water casks. Then their weight had ensured that they’d smashed. We still had food, if not aplenty then for a week maybe more but by the time we’d finished there was one medium size cask of vinegar left.

Well that was that then, enough to drink for two-three days at most, particularly as the falling wind meant increasing heat. It wasn’t really drinking material but everyone turned out their bottles of spirits. Even a few of them had either been consumed or broken. Maybe a final half day getting drunk before the end.

An air of morbid finality settled over the ship. We knew we had to find land fast. The problem was that the winds we were getting were too light to move a ship as big as the Petrel with a sail as small as we had. The skipper called me into the cabin, he had Piot, Elog and Haerd with him so there’d obviously been a discussion of some seriousness.

“Arya we’ve got a plan, the trouble is if it goes wrong the consequences are not going to be good and they’re going to be particularly bad for you”.

“Unless I’m totally misunderstanding our current situation we’re all going to be dead in a few days from lack of water so I’m not too sure the meaning of particularly bad here”.

“It pretty much comes down to will you risk your life alone if it’s the best chance of saving us”.

“You mean I risk my life and you don’t, is this some sort of wind ritual that involves the ritual slaughter of a naked virgin”. I didn’t mean what I was suggesting, but I knew better than anyone that people under extreme pressure will go to extreme lengths to solve the problem.

“No Arya it’s simpler but more complicated than that; besides Piot has made it plain he doesn’t even like my plan because of the situation it puts to you in. If I’d suggested hurting you I think he’d already be pinning my hide to the cabin door as a lesson to others”.

I looked at Piot, he had fear written all over him, now I was getting concerned.

“So to cut to the chase, we think we’re near land, we think the only way to get there however is to rig a sail in the ships boat and send you off on your own to try and make landfall and then get us some help”.

I’d never sailed a small boat in my life, but apart from that, what was the problem. “That sounds fine to me. You’ll need to show me how I manage a smallboat single handed, but what’s the extra risk for me”.

“Simple, there are five options once you set out; One, you reach land and organise a rescue, everyone is saved: Two you reach land they can’t get to us in time, you live we die: Three you get to land there’s no one there so no rescue, we all die and you’re alone in an uninhabited land, maybe you live maybe you die depending on the climate, food and wild animals around: Four you don’t make land, there’s no rescue we all die: Five you don’t make land but by some fluke either we do or we get found by a passing ship, you die we survive. What Piot really doesn’t like is the number of times I say you die and I mean you die alone”. 

I buried my head in my hands and burst into tears. Behind me I heard Haerd’s voice “I told you this wasn’t the way to tell ‘er, she isn’t used to nice. What she wanted was you to chuck her over the side into the boat and just be told to push off [or maybe something slightly coarser] and get on with it”. I turned round and wrapped my arms round his neck and started to laugh hysterically.

I waited for her to calm down. Well Haerd had made his point, Piot and I obviously didn’t understand women as well as he did, although how often he’d met the likes of Arya I couldn’t imagine. She took a few minutes the she let go of Haerd, kissed him on the forehead, wiped her eyes and turned back to the rest of us.

“If you think it’s the best hope for any or all of us then I go. Heard’s right and he’s wrong”, I turned back to look at him again “and I think he knows that but he’s trying to make it easier for me”. I turned back towards Piot. “I’m used to working alone and as an assassin that means facing the risk of dying alone so it’s sweet of you, really sweet of you, but it’s wrong for you to think that would be worse for me. What I think is it will be is worse for you, you’ll be the ones looking at each other and wondering what’s happening to me. I’ll just be sailing a boat until I can’t sail it any further”.

I looked round the table, I think she has us all on the verge of tears. “Right so that’s settled. We need to rig a mast and small sail in the boat, find a small cask so Arya can have her fair share of the last barrel, stuff her full of food so she can last on liquids alone and wait for what we all hope is a seabreeze to set in tomorrow afternoon. Well don’t sit there, Piot sort the boat, Haerd find a cask and share the water out, Elog get back on watch and make sure we don’t hit a reef before we can get the plan working. Arya sit down and I’ll explain why I think we’ve actually got a chance that this plan will work”.

There wasn’t a massive rush but Marcus was right we needed stay busy while we all calmed down a bit. There was a lot of emotion slopping around a group of people who didn’t routinely behave that way. It occurred to me that that was another thing that bound me to these sailors, which was the wrong thought to have at this time. “Right skipper you’ve talked a lot about trade winds but if you mentioned sea breezes I wasn’t listening so where do we start”.

Apparently it’s all about the different rate of heating and cooling of the land and the ocean. As a result near the coast the wind will change depending on the time of day. The senior hands were all agreed that despite the lightness of the wind it was what was happening around us, so I was to be launched, the lightest load, in the ships boat rigged with biggest improvised sail that could be managed. Ideally I as to go off with the wind behind me and there was one school of thought that said I stuck to that plan, but I preferred to stick on a compass bearing so I was reminded of how to turn the sail fore and aft to sail across and even slightly into the wind and it was pointed out that a small boat would heel over with the wind on one beam so I needed to sit as far to one side as I could to counterbalance the force of the wind. Personally even in small boat I didn’t think I’d be going that fast, but apparently as I neared shore the wind might get stronger.

Well we were ready. Piot had actually managed a fearsomely large sail for such a small rowboat, but since the wind was still a zephyr here and there he’d done the right thing. I’d been serious about feeding her up and had sat her in the cabin while she stuffed mutton and biscuit down her face. By the time she demanded we stop before she was sick her belly was sticking out so far she’d eased her belt off and we were all making pregnancy jokes. The early morning wind from the west, which we hoped was the land breeze had dropped so she went into the boat and pushed herself off. She’d made the very sensible point that she might as well row as well as sail so she unshipped the oars and sat down.

“Is this the moment to shout ‘All aboard the skylark’ skipper”.

Gods she’d remember that told joke from the first day we’d met. “No, or we’ll all get in with you” I remembered what Haerd had said in the cabin the day before “Just push off and don’t come back without a rescue ship with you”.

“Aye Aye Skipper” I bent my back and took a gentle first stroke. I’d never rowed before so this was actually more worrying than the sailing. The boat moved the right way and the oars didn’t fly anywhere stupid, back forward next stroke, the boat was moving now and the effort decreased slightly. Don’t push it. I got about 200 yards from the Petrel and the sail started to very gently fill. I shipped the oars, tightened the sheets and we were easily making 3 knots. I cast a quick look back the Petrel wasn’t moving, the jury rigged sail barely moving. I was on my way.

We watched her go, rowing for a few minutes then the wind came into her sail and she picked up speed. The whole crew were at the side, there was nothing else to do, our sail was not so much as flapping. “All right one man on watch the rest of you under cover, stay out of the sun and try not to drink if you can possibly help it. The one thing we hadn’t told her was that she’d got nearly all the water. We all thought option two was anyone’s best hope so even though she was in an open boat and we’d be in the shade she should be good for two days. I even believed if she found shore but no humans she’d survive.


	14. The End

I’d been sailing for a day and a half, my water had all gone several hours ago. I thought I could just see land on the very edge of my vision, but I could feel myself losing consciousness, the small sail was barely drawing, if I was making any way towards the coast it was hard to detect. It was very frustrating to be so close to what we’d come so far to find. I tried to get angry at the stupidity of sailing thousands of miles and falling short by less than twenty, but the energy was ebbing away from me. Then something passed over me, a shadow, massive outstretched wings, a howling sound. Was it a dragon, I’d never heard a dragon howl before. I rolled over and looked up, the shadow was swinging round, now it was head on and coming towards me; was I destined to die as a dragon’s dinner.

The shape pulled up and passed over me. I had no idea what it was but it wasn’t a dragon, there was no head, more a blunt snout, the body was a tube and clearly man made. There were wings, big triangles and more small wings near the back. As it passed beyond me the noise got a lot louder, less howl more roar, the boat rocked in the blast of air.

Time was getting a bit confused, but a while later I heard another noise, a sort of chopping sound, then I felt a lot of air blasting down at me again and I looked up. Above me was another smaller more box like thing hanging in the air. Above it things were spinning, like a windmill only thinner sails going a lot faster. This thing is blowing the wind down at me and it’s getting pretty objectionable. Then something appeared out of the side and starts to come down towards me. As it gets closer it became a man on a rope, or something similar. He arrived in my boat holding some straps in his hand. He waved them at me and then started to put them over my feet. If the thing above weren’t so bloody noisy he might have been able to talk to me but it was and we couldn’t; however I got what he was after and tried to help him get me into the strapping. This wasn’t easy, I discovered I’d got very little energy, but between us we managed it. As soon as I was in and he’d clipped me to his own straps we went up in the air. At this point I thought I would be scared shitless, possibly embarrassingly literally, but I found I was actually too tired so I hung there strapped to him with him also holding me and we got up to the thing in the sky and there was a door in the side and another man in the door. The second man grabbed me and pulled me into the box thing. The noise by now was verging on even more scary than the thought of how far up in the air I was. The first man came into the box with me, dragged in because we’re fastened together. All the way up he’d been smiling at me, now he sticks a thumb up in the air. I wondered if this was supposed to mean something. In the meantime the second man has putting a pair of mufflers over my ears. They squeezed my head a bit, but they take out a lot of the noise, which is good. Then 'whoa!', the world has just swung sideways and I’m looking down at my boat in the water. The only reason I didn’t fall out was because the two men are attached to me, one was holding my straps and the other was still fastened to me. I noticed the one holding me was also fastened to the inside of the box by straps. The world leveled out again and we’re obviously going somewhere. Man two let go of me and went to the box opening and shut the door, I’d got time to register, everything was metal, not very thick looking metal, Gendry would want it a bit thicker I suspect.

Then there was a voice in my ears “Are you OK”. I didn’t know what OK meant, but his first words were in the common tongue, I realised that it’s obviously more common than I might have thought. I tried to say something but a wave of dizziness hit me and things went black.

I came round a bit later; one of the men was dribbling water into my mouth. That felt so good, I grabbed the container and started to gulp, then I choked and had a coughing fit. I could see him laughing at me, he took the water from me and patted my back. When I’d stopped choking he gave me the container back. A voice in my ears said “Take it steady” and I realised it’s the man speaking, I could see his lips moving. I had another more controlled mouthful and handed him the container back. Suddenly I remember why I was in the boat “There’s a ship, further East, with a crew, they’re out of water too”. I knew I’m speaking but he wasn’t responding, I presumed it’s still too noisy for him to hear me. I saw his hand go up to my head and he pulled something down in front of my face and moved it right next to my mouth. The words “Try again now” came into my ears. I repeat myself, he nodded “Relax we knew you hadn’t come all the way from Westeros in that little thing so the plane kept sweeping and we spotted your ship. Another helicopter is on its way, plus a coastguard cutter that can tow her in”.

“Are my friends safe”

“The report was several people on the ship responding when the plane went over, so some of them are alive. Hang on”.

He'd said ‘Hang on’ , I didn't know what to, So I did as I'd been told and grabbed his jacket. He gave me a slightly frightened look. “You said hang on”.

“Sorry I meant wait, not grab me”.

“Well why didn’t you say wait then”.

“It’s a figure of speech, obviously one that’s not common in Westeros then”.

I realised I’d made a fool of myself. “Sorry”.

“That’s OK”

“Does OK mean alright”

“Yes”.

“Good, clearly we speak the same language, just not in quite the same way”.

“In a way it’s surprising we speak the same language, since we’ve had no contact with each other, or at least haven’t for over a thousand years. Like I said wait a minute and I’ll ask about your friends. Zero this is Charlie two zero, do we have more information on the personnel on the larger boat over”.

“Charlie two zero, last information multiple people waving at Monkey four three. Apples Sugar Robert will not get there for another thirty minutes, but four three’s dropped a survival package alongside with water, food and medication, over”.

“Roger out. You heard that, some of them are alive enough to wave”.

“Thank you” I wanted to hug him, some of them were alive, possibly all of them. Mind you I had no idea how a monkey knew that they were alright and Robert taking them apples and sugar didn’t make sense either, still I decided I’d leave that 'til later. The man pulled a piece of board out from underneath himself and looked at me.

“OK, let’s get the paperwork done; name”

“Arya Stark”

“Date of birth”, he paused briefly “No forget that, you won’t use our dating calendar, how old do you think you are”.

“I’m not exactly sure, fourteen or fifteen”.

“Flipping heck! [he may not have used exactly these words] no, sorry shouldn’t have sworn”.

A second voice joined the first “I think she’ll forgive you this once”.

Then a third that sounded female “Are you molesting little girls in the back again”.

The face in front of me went red, he’s clearly embarrassed “Come on boss cut it out, there are people back at base who will take that seriously. I can’t help it if every rescue I’ve done involves an underage girl. I don’t chuck them in the water especially you know”.

The female voice replied “Don’t sweat it, what’s said in the air stays in the air”.

I’m getting a bit confused here. “Would you mind talking to me not about me”.

The man in front of me said “Sorry”.

The third voice seemed less concerned “Ooh a feisty one; still alone in a boat the size of a rescue dinghy in the deep ocean, she’s not likely to be a shrinking violet”.

The man in front of me was moving his lips but no sound was coming to my ears. I tapped him on the chest and pointed to his mouth.

“Sorry just going down the questions, you won’t know the answer to, blood group, ethnicity, religion”. The face looked even more embarrassed. “I am right you are biologically female aren’t you”,

“Yes” I realise I’m wearing very little and it’s a bit tatty and threadbare, so that should be obvious.

“And do you identify as female”.

“Pardon”

“Your gender”.

The second voice again, although I’m pretty sure I can hear female laughter in the background “Tom if she’s from Westeros she won’t have any idea what you’re talking about, just leave it all blank and say we landed before you had time to complete it, then we can hand her over to the medics and they can have the fun of explaining gender and sexual orientation to her”.

I realise the second voice is the man sitting next to me, the one who came down on the rope. I turned and looked at him. “You seem to know about Westeros”.

“Of course”.

“How if you’ve not been in contact for a thousand years”.

“Satellite imagery, things very high up in the sky looking down on you; too small for you to see. One of your large cities burned down a few months back, over on the East coast”.

King’s Landing, that’s not a good guess, he’s telling the truth.

“Tower this Charlie two zero, am I clear to land”.

“Charlie two zero, clear to land pad six, wind two two five degrees, three knots”.

The roaring noise got louder and then there was a bump. Then the roaring turned into a descending whine. The first man was out of his seat and opened the door in the side. Sunlight flooded in and I coulsd see a box approaching us with blue lights flashing on its corners. I tried to stand up and realised I was strapped into the seat. Man two reached from where he’s sitting and pushed a red piece and the straps came loose. He took the ear things off my head, it was quiet enough to hear him speak.

“There you go you can stand up now”.

I did and then sit down again, my legs were still rather weak.

“Can you walk or do we need a stretcher”.

I got my legs under myself and pushed, I managed to get up and stayed up “I can walk”

“Good oh, well nice to have met you Arya”, he pointed to the door and I walked to it. The ground was only about two feet away so I jumped down. The one called Tom was waiting for me.

“This way Miss Stark, sorry is Miss OK”.

I wondered why it wouldn’t be, “Miss is fine, but Arya’s simpler”

“Oh right good”, he looked relieved as though the miss thing mattered. I looked back at the metal box, there were five windmill sails, now slowing to nearly a stop, on top and another five at the back that are upright. At the front was a lot of what I assume is glass. Behind the glass someone waved, so I waved back. They removed their helmet and a lot of hair flows free, I realised that that must be the source of the female voice. Since she was at the front I assumed she must be the driver. The box on the ground had stopped short of us and people in green clothing had got out of it . They walked towards us.

\-----------------------------------------------

Marcus and the M-L Navy worked out where we'd traveled

The bits of Westeros and Summer Islands plus the scale are from https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Known_world


	15. If I understood the question I still wouldn't know the answer

“This is Arya Stark, happy to be addressed as Arya, she’s from Westeros” at this point everyone’s eyebrows rose; clearly I was a novelty. “She’s probably still dehydrated but otherwise seems fine and is communicating clearly”.

The lead woman from the ground box responded “And you got all the paperwork done, since you’ve been in the air for at least half an hour since pick-up”.

“Ah, she lost consciousness for a while and didn’t regain it until we were closer to land”.

“How very convenient, for a rookie you’re learning bad habits fast”. She turned to me “I’m Sylvia, are you feeling OK”.

“Yes I feel fine, well yes maybe a bit thirsty and hungry, but I’m not ill”.

“Good then you can walk to the ambulance”.

“Ambulance”, she pointed to the box, there was a door open in the side just like in the flying box.

“Yes”. I follow her into the ambulance, we sit on two seats and she strapped me in, a smaller belt just across one shoulder and my lap not the multiple straps from the flying box. The box started to make a noise, a bit like the flying one but a lot quieter. I wouldn’t need to get the things on my head to be able to talk. The door was shut and shortly afterwards we started moving. No one seemed to be going to talk to me so I asked about my friends. “The others on the bigger ship, in the other thing, the one that went in the air, they said some of them were alive”.

“That’s all I’ve heard, you’ll have to wait until the helicopters doing the pick-up get back”.

“Heli what”.

“Sorry helicopters, like the one you arrived in. Boy, are you in for a lot of shocks if you’re from Westeros”.

I thought about the ‘helicopters’; she was right, if you’d described one to me yesterday I’d have laughed at you, the idea of a box with spinning sails that flies; but since I’d been in it clearly it did. We got to a building, I found the red bit and pressed, the strap came off so I got out by myself. As I did the big tube thing that first flew over me came back into sight, it came down towards the ground, there were what I hoped were wheels sticking out from underneath, it touched the ground and shot off into the distance. Sylvia guided me into the building, sat me down, she'd got another of the hard sheet things in her hand.

“OK well first one’s easy, name Arya Stark, yes”.

“Yes”.

“Date of birth, pointless, how old are you”.

“I’m not sure fourteen or fifteen”

“Ah a minor, that complicates matters”.

“Sorry”

“You’re not legally an adult in the Dragon Lands until you’re eighteen. Are any of the other people on the ship your parents or legally appointed guardians”.

“My parents are dead, I don’t know what a legally appointed guardian is but they don’t look after me if that’s what you mean. Well on a ship we all look after each other but I hired them, I’m not the ships master but we came to find, did you say this is the Dragon Lands”

“Yes”

“Well we set out to find you, well to find whatever was in the West”. Sylvia pulls a face, I got the impression things had just got more complicated.

“Are you fleeing oppression, war or other persecution because of your race, religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation or other beliefs”.

“I’ve no idea what half those things are, but I’m not fleeing anything, I’m exploring”.

“Oh, and it’s you who organised the expedition”.

“Yes”.

“So you must be someone of some importance in Westeros”.

“Well technically I’m Princess Arya Stark of Winterfell, my elder sister is Queen of the North. I suppose to be honest it’s her who paid for the trip, but it was my idea. With the war over I had to find something to do or they would have had me married off to some minor lordling, or they would have started trying; with my background I’m not sure what man would have taken me on”.

“You make it sound like who you married was not your personal choice”.

“Well I’d have got to say no to any particular husband, and it being me I think people would have listened; but you know how it is, princesses are there to marry princes or lords and produce heirs and that’s not my idea of life, I prefer sticking a sword in someone”. Oops I realised that that last comment clearly was not taken as a joke; Sylvia had moved two feet backwards. “You’re safe enough, firstly I’m not armed” I wave my hands to sort of indicate ‘no hidden weapons’ “Secondly I’m not a random killer, but if you’ve hurt people I like I do tend to take my revenge”.

“Well I’ll be sure not to hurt anyone you like”. She really didn’t look that happy any more.

“I’m sorry I’m creating the wrong impression. I came to the Dragon Lands to explore not to cause trouble”.

“Well I’m afraid you may be in for some nasty shocks about what the Dragon Land’s have got to offer you. It’s a very different world over here and while I appreciate that I have to respect your culture in all its manifestations there are limits, you can’t just go killing people you don’t like. Everyone’s entitled to live by their cultural norms and that includes the rest of us”.

“Yes I understand that”. Sylvia was looking increasingly harassed

“I’ll tell you what, I’m going to ignore a lot of what you’ve just said, however you are legally a minor and you have no guardian with you so I am going to have to hand you over to social services as soon as I’m happy you’re medically fit”.

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of being handed over to anyone, or being treated like a child, because that’s clearly what she meant by ‘minor’; but I thought at this point to get aggressive was not going to be useful. “I’d like to see my friends from the ship when they get here”.

“Mmmm”.

I didn’t like that, it was the noise of someone who wasn’t going to let me see Marcus and the crew and didn’t want to say so. I tried a change of approach “If I said that the master was responsible for me, would that help. After all a ship’s master is responsible for his crew”.

“Is there a woman amongst the crew”.

“Yes me”.

“No, an adult woman”.

“No”.

“It’s unlikely that social services will want you to have contact with the men except under supervision to ensure you’re not coerced into making statements against your will”.

“That’s silly, no one, least of all Marcus, the master, has tried to coerce me into anything”.

“How long have you been at sea with these men”.

“Three or four months”, depends on whether you mean from the start in King’s Landing or from when we last saw land at Old Town”.

“It will be argued that in that time Adventum syndrome will have taken effect”.

“Adventum syndrome”.

“Hostages become so habituated to their captivity they start to see their captors as their friends”.

“I told you I hired them to sail me over here”.

“And you will of course get to say that in court, but being a minor it will be argued you’re not competent to decide”. The look on my face must have told her what I thought of this idea. “Look I’m sorry but it’s more than my jobs worth not to see that you are put into the hands of social services”.

Suddenly they seemed to have lost interest in whether I was ill. I was taken to a place called the canteen, essentially a mess hall and offered food and drink. The food was all right, OK as they all call it, but when I asked for wine, the wheel fell off again, 'was I a habitual drinker', well yes, the water’s not safe is it. I was firmly told that the water in the Dragon Lands was very safe and I’m not allowed alcohol until I’m eighteen. Then Sylvia was replaced by Catherine, “Call me Cathy”, who told me she was my ‘social worker’. We left the ‘hospital’ at the ‘airport’, lots of new words and went in Cathy’s ‘car’ another metal box that moved without a horse, to a ‘residential home’. Here I was passed on to another woman, Sarah. Out came yet another of the board things and the questions started again, name, age, sex, gender.

“Sorry gender means nothing to me”

“You are physically female but do you identify as female”.

“What else would I identify as, I can see I’m female. Hang on you don’t mean, do I prefer girls to have sex with, do you”.

“No that’s not gender that’s sexual orientation”.

“Just put me down as normal female who has sex with men. Whatever else goes on over here I don’t really understand”.

“Arya you said, has sex, do you mean you’re sexually active”.

“Well not recently, but yes I’m not a virgin anymore”. It may have only been once but I wasn’t telling her that.

“Did this happen on the ship”.

“No, you haven’t seen them have you, they’re great people but they’re as old as the hills, some of them could have been my Grandfather”. I wasn’t letting on about my slightly more than occasional lustful fantasy, I’d think about why later.

“Was the man who had sex with you in some position of authority over you”.

“No”.

“But he was an adult, you didn’t disagree when I said man, it wasn’t a boy your own age”.

“No he was a man all right”, he was a lot of a man, that hadn’t been a disappointment.

This is a difficult question, but would you say you were coerced into sex”

“No in fact I went to him”.

“Had he groomed you”.

“Sorry I groom a horse, with a curry comb and I don’t think that’s what you mean”.

“Did he spend a lot of time with you or keep getting in contact with you, being sexually suggestive”.

“At one time we spent a lot of time together, not entirely voluntary on my part, but no he wasn’t sexually suggestive. In fact once when I asked him to explain something to me that was about sex he got a bit flustered”.

“You said he kept you with him against your will”.

“For a while”. I felt a bit guilty, I could see by her face that this was not good news and given that Sandor was dead I didn’t want someone who didn’t understand coming to the wrong conclusions “Look it’s complicated, when he was keeping me with him there was no sex, not even any mention of sex, except the once I asked him some questions because I was growing up and he was the only person around. Then years later, one night I thought I might die in a battle the next day. I thought I wanted one go at sex before I died, so I went to him. He did stroke my hair afterwards, surprisingly gently for such a big man, if that’s what you mean by grooming, but that was afterwards”. Her pen was working overtime; somehow I just kept getting the feeling that nothing I said was making things any better.

“You’ve been forced to fight in a war”.

“No, I could have hidden in the cellars with all the other women, but that’s not my style. I’m not the sort of girl who does needlework and has babies and simpers over her man going to war. I’m the sort who takes her sword and dagger and goes and joins in, even if it does scare the shits out of you. I came home, the thing who tried to strangle me didn’t”.

“And when this all finished you couldn’t settle back in to the life of a normal child and so you set out to sail across the ocean in the hope of finding another country”.

“I don’t think anyone’s called me a child for about two or three years now. We have different ideas about when you’re grown up from you”.

“And in one sense I must respect your cultural sensibilities, but I’m afraid the reality is that you don’t understand just how badly you’ve been traumatised and how much help you’re going to need to come to terms with it. I need to make a report to my head of department so I’ll introduce you to the heads of the house and come back and see you tomorrow”.


	16. Princess to wayward child in one day

We went out of the room down to another room and there were two people there, Martin and Helen, who I discover run the house I’m staying at. Sarah did introductions and left; it seemed to me rather rapidly. I started to feel people find me slightly scary. Martin’s first comments didn’t help things.

“If I were you Arya I’d not say much about where you’ve come from, just say something vague about, out of town”.

“Why”.

“Some of the children in here have behavioural problems; it will be simpler that way”.

“Behavioural problems, is that a way of saying some of them might be violent”.

“Well there are enough adults around to make nothing serious happens but they can be verbally nasty”.

I thought of all the things that had happened to me over the years, and that these people might be verbally nasty. “I think I can live with that”.

“That’s the spirit, now do you have any special cultural needs, special foods, foods you must not eat, do you have to pray at certain times of the day”.

“No”.

“OK then, let’s go and meet the others”.

Helen butted in “Arya are they the only clothes you have”.

“Yes”.

“Shall we go and look for some others for you. I won’t pretend we’ve a fashion shop but there are plenty of spare clothes and what you’re wearing does look a bit scruffy”.

I looked down at myself, she had a point, everything I was wearing was home made on the Petrel, things I’d improvised as the weather got too hot for the leather jerkins and breeches I’d set off in. “If you’ve got some spares it would be good to have something extra, we didn’t wash much at sea unless we went swimming and the last time I tried that it went a bit wrong”.

We went into another room and Helen opened up a cupboard and some draws and threw things onto a table. Then she walked across to the door and slid a small bolt.

“Take your pick”.

It all looked a bit strange, not the sort of clothing I was used to but I pick out a colourful top, some short breeches, some short hose and some rather strange shoes. I peeled my clothing off and as I loosened the belt on my pants my dragon-glass knife fell out on the floor. Helen went pale and started to back away from me. “Is the knife a problem, we all have one on board ship, it’s a part of being a working sailor”. Her face relaxed a bit, but it was clear she wasn’t happy.

“I’m sorry Arya but I have to insist you give me the knife, we can’t have weapons in the house”.

I picked it up off the floor and handed it to her butt first. “Please don’t lose it, it’s a bit special, it’s saved my life a couple of times and it was made by a good friend of mine”.

“It will go in the safe, it will be locked away, but I’m not sure when you’ll get it back”.

I thought it was best I didn’t mention Needle back on the Petrel. The Petrel, the thought hit me suddenly, were they all right “I had a lot of friends on a bigger ship. The last I heard they’d been found but were still at sea. How can I find out if they’re all safe”.

“Just before you arrived there was a report on the TV news, about you all being found. It said the crew of the ship were all alive and were staying on the ship while it was towed into port”.

Relief washed over me, then guilt, how had I forgotten them so quickly, my legs went wobbly and I sat down on a chair.

“Are you OK”.

“Yes I’m pleased they’re safe and I’m feeling a bit guilty, I’d almost forgotten about them. So many things are happening. I came to find what was West of Westeros and it’s not at all like I imagined”.

“That’s OK, you’re right you’ve had a lot of shocks it’s not surprising you’re feeling strange. I would put some clothes on though”.

I realised she’s right, I was sat on the chair naked. I got hold of the small clothes, they were very small and flimsy and when I pull them up they stretch and hug my body. The top and breeches are pretty straightforward. Helen holds up a sort of strapped band.

“Don’t you want a bra”, she could see the confused look on my face “It holds your breasts in and up and stops them moving around”.

I’d never worn a corset, by the time I had something to wear one for I was wearing men’s jerkins. “I don’t really bother”.

“It’s up to you”. Helen put the clothes I hadn’t used away again and pulled the bolt on the door. I’d wondered why I was being locked in, now I realised that she did it so no one would walk in. In view of the amount of upset the rest of my life had caused so far I made no comment about the lack of privacy on a small ship. We left the room and went down the corridor into a larger room with about a dozen other young women and girls in it. Some were probably older than me, some a bit younger. On the wall was a strange flat box with a picture on it. The picture was moving and sounds were coming out of the box. Helen picked up a small box, pointed it at the screen and everything goes black. There’s chorus of ‘Aw’, and ‘Oy’ and everyone turned round to look at us.

“Girls this is Arya, she is going to be with us for a while. She’s come from” she paused “Let’s just say things are different where she’s been so if she asks questions please answer them, she’s not used to a lot of the things we take for granted”.

A big ginger haired girl laughed “You can’t kid us, she’s off that ship on the news, she’s from Westeros, where they still think the wheel is a clever idea. Welcome to the real world museum girl”.

“Ella, that isn’t a very friendly attitude to take. Yes Arya is from the ship, so she’s an honoured foreign visitor; we must respect her cultural values as I’m sure she will respect ours”.

Ella’s face told me she doesn’t do respect easily. I checked she wasn’t armed, I’m guessing the routine carrying of weapons isn’t the norm here. I thought back, I couldn’t remember seeing a sword or spear since I was picked up. Still if I water dance and punch instead of stabbing I’ll still hurt; so I smiled at her, “I’m sure we’ll get along fine”. Actually I’m sure we’ll have a fight within a day or two, but I didn’t think Helen wanted to hear that. Helen pointed the little box back at the big box and the moving picture and sounds came back on. Ella patted the seat next to her.

“Come and sit over here, you’ll get a good view that way”. The look on the face of the dark haired girl who had been next to her wasn’t pleasant, but hey keep your enemies close, so I took up the offer, it was a big long sort of bench seat so I squeezed up to Ella and motioned the dark haired girl “Come on we can all squeeze in”. She seemed surprised by the offer, but quickly took it up. We’re a bit cramped but I’m obviously trying to fit in, literally.

Helen went and sat at the back of the room, she had a book in front of her so she’s obviously there to keep an eye on us. I looked up at the moving pictures, a rather attractive blond said something about Shayne going to see Wayne and everyone laughed, someone in the room made a comment about ‘Kyrotome accents’. When they mention it I do notice that although we’re all speaking what I call the common tongue they do have a different accent and pronounce some words oddly. Still I can understand the words, what they are doing and why is a different matter.

The dark haired girl leaned close to me and whispers. “I don’t suppose you know the story, don’t worry after a week or two you’ll catch up with who’s who and what they’re all doing, it’s not rocket science”.

Ella turned to her “Sasha you dipshit, of course she doesn’t know the story, she doesn’t know what she’s watching either, she probably thinks there are little humans in the box”.

She’s wrong I had no idea what I was seeing but I’d dismissed the little humans idea pretty well as soon as I’d thought of it. If they’d been real little humans Helen would just have asked them to stop and wait for us not pointed the little box and made them disappear. “It’s a machine, I have no idea how it works, but it’s some sort of machine”.

“It’s called TV and this is a soap opera. They’re supposed to be ordinary people, just like us”, this got a laugh “but if half the things that happened on there happened in here the thought police would be round to re-educate everyone. It’s escapist bullshit”.

“Why are you watching it then”.

“’Cos there’s nothing else to do, unless you want to be a dork and pretend you can play chess. We aren’t allowed to play cards in case we fall into the sin of gambling and I’ve tried claiming that it’s part of my cultural heritage, and it is, my dad lost loads of money gambling over the years before they took me away and put me in here, but apparently that’s a bit too much even for the most liberal of liberals”.

“You could tell me things about living here so I won’t be so confused or you could ask about where I come from and how I got here”.

“Nah, I know how you got here, in a crappy old sailing boat that nearly fell apart, which is why you had to be rescued. You come from Westeros, which is the western side of a continent that’s still in the Middle Ages so we don’t go there to avoid contaminating you because that would be Cultural Imperialism. So we let you live your shitty little lives in peace and quiet without the benefits of science and technology and modern medicine. Ain’t that right Helen”.

“You’re, as usual, explaining everything in a very biased manner Ella, you presume that the people of Westeros would want our technology, science and medicine. Would they also want the problems it has brought us, over population, environmental pollution. We are just different worlds, neither is better than the other”.

“Sez ,you”.

“Well no it’s the official policy of the United Nations of the Dragon Lands, as you well know”.

“Well we’ll let Arya choose, give her a month or two to get used to living here and then ask her if she wants to go back home”.

There was a chorus of approval for this idea.

“Wotcha say Arya”.

“Fair enough, if it’s bad enough here maybe we’ll get our boat repaired and sail back”.

“Oh you can’t go back, you’ve been contaminated, you’d take your knowledge back and then your people would realise what a shit hole they live in and all want to come and live with us and Helen’s right about one thing, there’s too many of us already, my dad says it will be only a few years and the government will start putting chemicals in the water to stop us having kids”.

“Ella that’s rubbish”.

“Is it, they already put fluoride and chlorine in the water”.

“If they didn’t put chlorine in the water it wouldn’t be safe to drink”.

“So soon it won’t be safe to have babies, for the good of society”.

I wasn’t following more than a few parts of this argument, but it was clear that one thing’s the same on both sides of the Sunset Sea, people argue. I was interested in one thing though. “Is Ella right we’ll not be allowed to go back to Westeros”.

“I’m sure once you get used to life here you won’t want to”.

“But if we did”. There was a good pause before Helen’s answers

“Well I can’t be certain, but the argument would be advanced that Ella has made. The problem Arya is how to introduce our continents technology to yours without destroying your culture. It’s a lot more complicated than Ella’s simple explanation. We could have come across three hundred years ago, used out superior technology to force you to let us in and then treated you like children and ‘taught’ you everything we knew, but we didn’t and maybe you should be thankful for that. Anyway nearly lights out girls, so upstairs to bed. Arya I’ll show you your room”.


	17. Some things are still fairly simple

My room turns out to be a room I’m sharing with three others, including Sascha the dark haired girl I’d been sitting next to, but not Ella. The other two introduced themselves as Phoebe and Sophie, then ignored me as best they could. Sascha took a different approach.

“Right Arya let’s get you up to speed on bedtime rituals. We will get out things, which you haven’t got so you can borrow mine for tonight and we go to the bathroom. There we will brush our teeth and floss vigorously before coming back here in time for lights out”.

Sascha lead me down the corridor to the bathroom, which does have a bath at one end but also includes six basins, six toilets and four showers. Sascha goes round explain how everything works. Helen appeared with a toothbrush for me, which seemed to please Sascha. I’m initiated into the mysteries of flossing, it all seemed a bit much to me then but they all insisted it was better than the dentist. Since I had no idea what a dentist was I played along. There were plenty of ‘you don’t’ comments and ‘what do you’ questions. Clearly they did think I was backwards, clearly they thought they were getting everything right. They looked my age but the reminded me of what I was like four or five years previously, but I thought ‘I’m alive and I’m exploring a new world so what have I got to grumble about’.

When we’d done teeth Sascha explains how to ‘flush’ the toilet when I’ve used it, this beats a ships bucket or some of the more impromptu places you use on the road. I’m also told that outside the home the toilet paper is far softer. Again I wasn’t complaining with what was on offer.

We headed back to our room, Ella was waiting for us, Phoebe and Sophie dived for their beds and got under the bedding as if hiding would do any good. Actually they were going to be safe as it was obvious Ella was here for me.

“So Arry, or whatever, yer Arry will do, you need to understand that despite what Helen thinks I’m the one who really runs things. Like Harry Grout in Porridge, it’s my slammer”.

Most of this meant nothing to me except it was obvious that it’s all an assertion of authority. In the back of my mind I could hear Marcus’ voice ‘No ship sails well when you fight the sea, why you landsmen can’t understand that with all your wars I don’t know’. I was surprised this is my first thought, he’s making me a nice person and I realise I can live with it; if I hurt this girl unnecessarily he’ll be disappointed and I realise I don’t want to disappoint him.

While I’m thinking Sascha has stepped between us “Leave off Ella, she’s alright”.

“Shut yer gob or you get it next. It’s not going to be much just enough so she knows what’s what”. Saying this she pushed Sascha aside, stepped up and grabbed my arm with both hands “Just a little Chinese burn to keep her going”. She started to twist the hands, it’s a burning sensation, it hurts, but compared to say a sea serpent’s fangs, the waifs knife or having the Ice King hoisting me by my throat it’s small beer.

I let her keep going for a couple of seconds, then I broke the grip by flicking my body and arm quickly in a circle. I danced backwards and pulled my top up and turned sideways so she could see the scars. “The person who did that’s dead Ella, don’t push your luck”. She paused but then kept coming towards me.

“But you ain’t got your knife now have you Arry and I’m in front of you so do your worse, or try”.

OK as they say she’s had her chance, I muttered “Sorry Marcus” and stepped back into her, knocked her hands away and hit her once in the lower centre of her rib cage. She tried to gasp for breath and when she realised she couldn’t fell on the floor. I knelt down beside her “I’m going to have to apologise to a friend of mine for doing that, so don’t make me do it again, now do you want a hand up”.

“Go Away” [or words to that effect].

Well that was a phrase that crossed oceans then. Sascha came up next to me “Reckon we’ll be sitting where we like tomorrow night Ella, now you’d best get back to your room before Helen sees you”. Ella was still struggling to breath properly but she got on her feet and backed out of the door watching me all the way.

“Well that showed ‘er”.

I noticed Sophie and Phoebe had sat up in their beds with wide eyed looks on their faces. “I wish I hadn’t had to do that. There’s a man on the ship, he’s the nearest thing I’ve got to a father and he’ll be disappointed in me. He’s trying to teach me to be a nice person”. This got me strange looks and no response. “So we get into bed and the light goes out somehow”.

“No Arya, I turn the light out, come on you two, get undressed and in you get”.

Sascha and I pulled our outer clothing off, Sascha kept going with her small clothes and put on some long legged breeches and a top with strange pictures on it instead. I just stripped off. We climbed into our beds, I’m a bit confused, there’s no sheets or blankets on top just one big baggy thing to get under but the room is so warm I’m not convinced I need it. Helen seemed bothered.

“Sorry Arya, I should have found you some PJ's. Are you OK like that. Girls if Arya wants to sleep undressed let’s not make a fuss”.

Sascha spoke up before I could say anything, “Arya can sleep how she likes, no one, and I mean no one, is going to try and stop her”.

Helen gave me a look that isn’t all approval, I smiled, which I realised may not have been the best option, “I’m fine thank you Helen, it’s cold at sea so I’m still getting used to how hot it is here”. That seems to pacify her, I got a smile.

“Right then, night girls”, everyone else chorused “Goodnight” and as she walked out of the door she reached to something on the wall and the lights go out. There’s a pause of a minute or so then a voice in the dark, I think it’s Phoebe’s, says “Wow”.

Sascha’s voice replies “Yes girls we have just gone up in the world, no more kow towing to Ginger bossy knickers, tonight the balance of power moves to this room”.

The final voice, presumably Sophie “You were keen enough on ginger bossy knickers two hours ago”.

“I know my place, and I know when to change it, that’s called being mentally flexible Phoebe. Like Martin’s always saying, we may have had bad pasts, but that doesn’t mean we have to always be that way we can change and have better futures”.

Ah, I’d got them the wrong way round, “The master of the ship I came in would agree with Martin, that’s what he’s been telling me, I’m not just a killer I can be other better things as well”. There was a bit of silence after that then Sacha asked

“So you really have killed people”. The tone of her voice said that now she’s actually frightened.

“I’m afraid so, there was a war going on, people were killing a lot of other people. It’s why I have no parents. Some days it was kill or you get killed. I’m still here”.

“Wow, you really are cool”.

“I’m not sure what cool means to you but I’m not just a killer. When the fighting finished I realised my own family, my big sister in particular, were scared of me. I didn’t like that, I still don’t like it, so if cool means you think I’m something good I’m not, it’s more complicated than that”. There was another prolonged silence. The trouble was however tiring a day I’d had I wasn’t mentally tired. I lay there looking at the ceiling I couldn’t see in the dark.

Then a voice said softly “Arya are you asleep”.

“No”.

“If you don’t have a mum or dad, who was looking after you on the boat”.

Oh where to start. I nearly laughed, ‘at the beginning’ I could hear Marcus’ voice in my head. “First I know this sounds silly, but it’s not a boat it’s a ship, don’t bother why for now just trust me on that one. Next in one way no one was looking after me. In Westeros I was considered old enough to look after myself, once a girl’s had her first moonbleed she’s consider an adult, old enough to marry and go off and set up a home”.

“Moonbleed, you mean monthlies right”.

Quick think, it sounded like the same sort of euphemism “Yes, so I decided to travel on the ship, my family were doing the paying so in one way I was the one in charge, but not really because obviously the ship has a master and he’s in charge. He’s called Marcus Stanson, he’s really old and in some ways a bit odd, but he’s someone I learned I could trust, which was not how I’d spent the last few years, trusting anyone”.

“Your family paid for you to sail here, they must be dead rich”.

“With my parents dead my sister is Queen of half of Westeros, so yes she can afford to hire a ship”.

“What’s a queen” Sophie I thought.

Phoebe’s reply was “Like they have up North around the Freshwater Sea, we all had them years ago before they invented democracy”.

I was starting to feel tired, I’d leave democracy ‘til later. Sascha however obviously wasn’t.

“This Marcus guy, he made friends with you on the boat”.

“We were at sea for months, it wasn’t a large ship, we effectively shared a cabin”, I heard an intake of breath at this point “You get to know someone quite quickly that way”.

“You were sleeping in the same room”.

“Yes”.

The next voice was hesitant, “He didn’t do anything, you know touch you where he shouldn’t”.

“No, never, I’m really sure he’s not that sort of man”.

There was a sniff from Sascha’s bed, “Lucky you then”.

Oh shit, I had to think fast, do I say something or keep quiet, I’m no good at silence “I’m sorry Sascha, let’s not discuss it any more. You must have something else to ask me”.

“It’s alright, my counsellor says I have to learn to accept and move on, but all I want to do is kill the bastard, like you did, but it’s not easy over here”.

I remembered Sandor’s last words to me about not letting revenge ruin my life, “I think your counsellor’s right, I had a friend who couldn’t let go of the idea of revenge and it killed him. If it hadn’t I might not be here”. That last statement made me stop and think, if Sandor hadn’t died would I have stayed in Westeros to be with him. You come thousands of miles to a new country and all your old problems just follow along in your head. There was no reply to my last comment and shortly after I must have fallen asleep.


	18. Dealing with the Police

There was a bell ringing, but it wasn’t the ships bell, too small and tinny, but still loud enough to wake me up. I sat up, ah yes my new home. The ringing stopped as Sophie hit a small box with her hand. She and Phoebe were quickly out of bed, then Sascha’s voice came from under her bedding.

“Relax you two, we go to the bathroom when want now, no desperate rush before Ella turns up any more”.

“I don’t care, I need the loo, I’m used to going straight out of bed” Phoebe turned to me, “You must need a wee”.

As it happens I did, but I wasn’t keen on the idea that I had to provide protection every time one of the others did. “Yes, but you’re going to have to learn to go by yourselves soon you know”. I tried to make it sound like a joke, but I know I’m not good at humour so, who knows. Anyway we went to the bathroom and came back safely. By this time Sascha was out of bed, Phoebe and Sophie started getting bottles out of the locker next to their beds.

“Got any shampoo Soph, I’m out”.

“You’ll have to share I’ll pass it to you”.

I must have been standing around looking vacant because Sascha looked at me “Not used to a shower every morning I’ll bet, or do you all jump overboard and swim around for a minute or two and claim that counts”.

“Excluding the sea serpent that left the scars on my shoulder, most days if you jumped overboard the ship would be gone before you’d come back to the surface so no”. It occurred to me that I actually hadn’t bathed for a long while and they were all probably being very considerate not just going ‘You stink’. “And your unspoken thought is correct I need one, I’m not sure about every day but certainly this morning”.

“Good, I didn’t want to rile you but there is a bit of a whiff”. Sascha waved two bottles at me, “Come on we can share”.

Hot showers, oh yes, maybe not every day, too much soap harms the skin, but regularly, all that hot water just running down your body is a simple pleasure in itself. The girls seemed a bit obsessed with being clean, my lack of a fresh set of clothes bothered them. They went and found Helen and harassed her until I was offered several more sets of things. I think I now had more clothes than I’d ever owned, even back when I was in Winterfell as a young girl.

Next was a meal, ‘Brekky’, a shorter form of breakfast, the girls seemed to live on abbreviations. The choice was wide, they all had small boxes of what they called ‘cereal’, I spotted some proper hot food, sausages, bacon, a fried egg, fried bread although it was sliced a bit thin and was a rather pale colour, mushrooms and something called ‘beans’, which they obviously were; what sort of beans the girls had no idea. I sat down and settled into my plateful. We all sat down together, other groups of four, obviously a room each were coming in. I could hear my name being muttered, not surprising I’m the new girl I’m an object of interest, but no one came and sat near us. I noticed Ella come in and fit herself on the end of an already full table.

“Ah it’s nice to have space”, Sascha was obviously revelling in our half empty table.

I wasn’t, it was becoming obvious everyone else was avoiding us. I stood up and walked over to Ella, everything went very quiet as I approached. “You and your pal” I nodded at the girl she’d been talking to “Come and sit on our table. I don’t bite, literally or figuratively. Last night you made a mistake, but I’m not holding grudges”. I got no reply so walked back to my plate, then they stood up and came and sat at the very end of the table. Nothing was said, but I felt I’d made my point so I sat back down.

“You aren’t really going to eat that lot are you”.

“Why not”.

“You’ll end up looking like a bloated whale”.

“I lead an active life, and on the ship we were getting close to running out of food. I’d just about grown a pair of tits when we left Westeros, but they’ve pretty much shrivelled up since. I probably need to pad myself out a bit”.

“But you look perfect. There are girls in here nearly killing themselves to get a body as thin as yours”.

“Then they’re daft, where I come from the only people this shape are the starving poor, no one wants to look like this”. There was a bit of a silence, I realised people had been listening to me. I noticed Helen was heading my way, oh dear I’d got something wrong again. She sat down next to me.

“I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong Arya because you’re not but there are girls in here who are literally starving themselves to look like you and sadly we can’t stop them by just telling them they’re wrong. It’s complicated, but please be, oh I don’t know how to put this, try not to upset anyone”.

“I don’t want to upset anybody, but I’m afraid I’m going to say some odd things because to me they aren’t odd”. I stood up and turned to face as many of them as I could. “I think you all know by now I’m new here and I’m from Westeros, which is very different from here so if I talk rubbish, then just tell me why you think I’m talking rubbish and we can discuss it. I came here to learn new things and to do that you all need to talk to me”. I sat down to an even bigger silence.

Helen shook her head “You’re right you’re different, God knows what your social workers going to make of you when she comes back”.

The girls round me looked worried. As usual Sascha did the talking “They’re not going to take her away are they, she’s only just got here and we like her”. She got nods of agreement from Phoebe and Sophie.

“No, Arya’s staying with us for now, but when you lot go to school she’ll stay here to talk to social services for a few days. Talking of which” and she stood up “Get moving you lot the school bus will be here in five minutes, detention for anyone whose late”. This provoked a rush to put plates back at the kitchen hatch and then for the door. I sat where I was, “So I’m going to be interrogated this morning”.

“It’s not an interrogation, it’s meant to be for your own good. Social services must ensure that you’ve not been abused or maltreated, or arrange treatment if you have. There’ll be some formalities about letting you in as a refugee, but in practice what Ella told you last night is correct, it will be harder for you to go home than stay”.

I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of this but at this point I didn’t want an argument. There was however one important question, “When can I see the rest of the crew”. Ah, Helen’s face didn’t look good.

“I’m afraid since none of the crew are your parents or a legal guardian they can’t see you until we’re satisfied none of them have to face criminal charges”.

“What charges”.

“Child abuse”.

This was getting absurd and I’m afraid I let anger enter my voice “That’s stupid! I’ve told you I paid for them to bring me here. I’m not a child! I’m a princess, a soldier and I’ve been trained as a professional assassin, I’ve fought in a major war. They are a bunch of harmless old sailors half of whom are embarrassed if I see them take a quick widdle over the lee rail at night. If you want to lock anyone up it should be me, ask Ella, I can be nasty if you provoke me!”. As soon as I’d said it I could hear Marcus’ voice in my head ‘Least said soonest mended’. That upset me, I’d been here less than a day and I’d let him down twice. I buried my head in my hands.

Helen’s voice was surprisingly neutral after my outburst. “I understand things are confusing and you’re probably a lot more tired than you realise, but you have to try and keep calm. I don’t want to frighten you but the statement you just made could get you taken from here to another place that is in effect a prison and that wouldn’t make anything better for the men, just worse for you”, she paused.

I looked up, “Sorry”.

“Oh I’ve had a lot worse. I want you to think about this. Let’s imagine I’m the captain of the good ship, Stratton Road Children’s Home and I know how to steer it, with you in it to safe and calm waters. In those circumstances you’d obey the captain’s orders wouldn’t you”.

I was about to quote her one of Marcus’ sayings about Captains and skippers, then I realised it wouldn’t help, the right answer was simple. “Yes”.

“Good then that’s what we’re doing. I’m going to give you some hints as to what to say and what very definitely not to say to the social worker and once she’s here if I ask you if you need the loo you’ll say yes so we can have another chat, OK”.

“OK”.

“Good then the big no no, you are not a killer and you’re not going to talk about any of that if at all possible and if you have to you were forced into doing it for your own survival”.

“I was”.

“Good you’re getting the hang of it”.

“Now, they will be looking for any evidence that the men have abused you, so again minimal detail if possible but you were always untouched, dressed in their presence, none of them talked about anything sexual to you and neither did you ask them questions. I’d even forget the peeing over the rail, although I’ve done that in a small boat as a child when we were sailing”.

“You sail”.

“Yes only what we call a dinghy, you wouldn’t stay out overnight although you might come ashore and camp overnight in tents and yes that means going behind a tree, but there are plenty of people who wouldn’t do that for fun”.

It’s funny isn’t it, it wasn’t all the very sound advice she’d given me, but when I knew Helen sailed suddenly I felt she had to be on my side. “I’ve not been sailing long, just this one voyage. When I got on in King’s Landing I didn’t know my mainsheet from the string holding up my pants, so if you’ve been sailing for years, you must be far better than I am”.

“Thank you, but I sail a boat no more than 20 feet long and never go more than a mile from the coast or set out if the wind looks in the least bit strong. You’ve just sailed nearly a quarter of the way round the world on a real seagoing ship. I think you know a lot more than me, but we can’t just sit and talk about sailing go and clean your teeth and then come back here please”.

I went, I cleaned, I got the floss stuck so it took a while. Was I was going to have to do this twice a day for the rest of my life, so much time wasted. I went back to the mess hall and found Helen sat next to another woman. Not Cathy from yesterday. This one looked far more formal, short hair, smart tight clothing in very dark blue”.

“Ah Arya, this is Detective Inspector Mead, she wants to ask you some questions before social services come and see you”.

“Good morning Detective Inspector”, I gave my best bow. I can’t say mother would have been impressed because I hadn’t curtsied, but father would. The bow seemed to throw her a bit.

“Ah good morning” she stood up and offered me her hand, “How do you prefer to be referred to”.

I took the hand, she gave me a brief but firm shake, let go and sat back down. “Arya is fine”.

“Right now I’m sorry but since this is now a formal police matter I have to caution you that anything you say will be recorded and may be used in a court of law and that the fact you refuse to answer questions may also be used in evidence”.

“Hey hang on, if she’s being cautioned she’s entitled to a solicitor. Arya say nothing. I’m disgusted at you Cat, you said you wanted to ask a few questions to wrap everything up quickly. That’s not what you’re doing.”

“Cut me a break Helen, I’ve been told to either wrap this or charge the men with sex offences by the end of the day. If I don’t do the interview under caution and she says something I do have to act on we have to do it all again”.

“Well then wrap it up, Arya clearly doesn’t feel anyone’s done anything to her”.

“But you know the rules, because she’s a minor we have to investigate the assumption that she isn’t aware that she’s been abused, she’s hardly an expert in Dragon Land law is she”.

I chip in “I know enough about the law in Westeros, I understand what you’re looking for and it didn’t happen”.

“Arya did you ever see the coast until you were in the helicopter”.

“I didn’t see the coast from the helicopter either, it’s a bit disappointing to think about that”.

“So Cat when Arya was picked up she was still outside territorial waters”.

“Don’t go there Helen please, international law of the sea gets very complicated. You’d be surprised who has the right to do what outside the limit”.

A thought occurs to me. “You are a government legal official of this Kingdom”.

“Yes”.

The light dawned in her eyes.

“Then you have no jurisdiction over me except in this Kingdom. So as a princess of Westeros I am an adult in my own country, with legal powers of my own and I will contend aboard my own countries ship the same applies. I have not been in contact with any of the crew since I entered your countries waters; therefore you can have nothing to investigate under your jurisdiction”. The look on her face was funny, it was like I’d lifted her out of a cesspit and given her a gold ring.

“You’re a bloody genius. Some smart arse lawyer will try and find a hole in the argument eventually, but that will be high court stuff, but in the meantime your crew can go free and I can try and clear a load of my paperwork before getting on with catching a real criminal”.

I was a bit surprised she’d given in that easily “Really it was that simple”.

“Look I’ve interviewed your crew; half of them are scared of you, the other half are in awe of you. The skipper thinks you’re, and I quote, ‘A woman I’d be proud to call my daughter’. It’s just that you said some things to social services last night and we got into a ‘jobs worth’ situation where everyone was scared to use common sense in case someone else decided they should have protected you. I’m pretty sure you can protect yourself, in fact my advice is, be careful over here, there are people who’ll accuse you of things you didn’t do just to make money out of you”.

“Thank you I’ll remember what you said”. She got up and left, but as fast as she got out of the door Cathy from yesterday came in.


	19. Questions, Questions

She stopped in front of detective Inspector Mead, “Well”.

“Any acts occurred in Westeros or International Waters, she is claiming her status, even at her age, gives her judicial authority and I can’t prove otherwise. I have very politely but firmly been told to take a legal hike and at present I can’t think of any legal argument to tell her she wrong. My advice, if she doesn’t feel unhappy with something she isn’t unhappy. Whatever her age we are not dealing with someone incapable of deciding if she has been wronged and she’s telling me she hasn’t. Fight her if you want with your pages of rules, but twenty quid says you lose”. Having said her piece she pointedly walked round Cathy and left.

Cathy came over to the table and sat down opposite me. “I only want to do what’s right for you”.

I didn’t get to open my mouth before Helen spoke, “Good, then if it feels right for Arya it probably is right. She’s fitted in here really well, made friends, gained the respect of other girls” I saw Cathy’s eyebrows rise at this statement, “She certainly isn’t a problem to us on the staff. We have had no cultural issues and I agree with Cat Mead, this is a very mature head on young shoulders, let’s try and treat her that way”.

Cathy looked at me “I’m here for you to complain about anything you want to complain about, regardless of what Helen and DI Mead say, but I take their point so do you have anything to complain about”.

“Well there is one thing”, I knew I was winding her up.

“Yes”

“I’ve heard a story that we can never go home, that you’re imprisoning us here. I don’t want to go home now but if I do, I don’t like the idea that someone is going to try and top me”. That stopped her in her tracks, oh her face was priceless.

Again it was Helen who spoke, “I’m sure Cathy meant problems today, things she can help with. If you want to go home we’ll get a lawyer and start from the beginning”.

“OK, seriously I’d like to see my crew, I have a responsibility to check that they are alright and besides they have all my money on the ship. I assume gold has value over here so I need to convert some into local currency so that we can all start paying for things, food and drink, new clothes, for now, bigger things like ship repairs later. If you have concerns you’re welcome to come with me, both or either of you, on the basis that whatever we do, if I don’t complain you will at most advise me that I am being socially inappropriate for this culture. I will then assure you that I’m being quite appropriate for my own culture, but note and modify my behaviour so as not to frighten the natives”. I grinned when I said the last bit. Helen got the joke and grinned back; Cathy still looked very nervous.

So Cathy still had a lot of pieces of paper she called ‘forms’ to fill in so we spent the rest of the morning with me answering questions, keeping Helen’s advice in mind, but just once in while putting my spin on things.

“Name?”,

“Princess Arya Stark of Winterfell”.

“Date of birth?”,

“I’m not sure of the exact day but 289 years After Conquest, I’m sure your maesters can work it out from there, but please note that I am considered an adult in my sister’s Kingdom”. Well you could argue I’m on the cusp since I’m not regular, but I’ve bled more than once and that will do me.

“Sex, gender, sexual orientation?”,

“I’m a female who likes men, you call that whatever you like”, I quietly think, I’ve got nothing against women, but yes I like men more.

“Religion?”,

“Do I have to have one”,

“Options include atheist and agnostic and chose not to answer”,

“Oh I’m a ‘chose not to answer’”, I decided that I’d work out what atheist and agnostic mean later.

“Nationality”

“I’m from the Kingdom of the North in Westeros”

“Ethnic background, you’re going to want to say from Westeros aren’t you”

“Yes”,

“Other, it’s spelt how it sounds isn’t it”,

“Yes”.

“Medical history, Oh God this is getting silly”

Helen and I grin at each other,

“Any illness or injury you feel you need treatment for”,

“No”, my arm was a bit red where Ella twisted her hands but I wasn’t discussing that.

“If I said have you been inoculated or vaccinated you wouldn’t understand me would you”,

“No”,

“Has anything ever been done to you by a doctor that would prevent you becoming ill in the future, you’re given something that will keep you safe from diseases for years in the future”.

“I don’t think so”,

“Then I have a bit of bad news, you’re going to get a sore arm sometime soon while you catch up with all the others here”.

“Do I have to”.

Helen buts in “You want to Arya, only a fool doesn’t get vaccinated, why get ill when you don’t have to”.

Put that way it’s an obvious answer, “OK then”.

“Education, do you have any pieces of paper with you saying you have passed exams”,

“No, but the skipper’s tested me on all sorts of things on the ship. You need to ask him if I’m a qualified deckie, I suspect I might be one test short because he’s always saying ‘We’ll make a qualified deckie of you yet”.

“I’ll leave that between you and the Captain”

“I’ll give you a tip, don’t call Marcus Stanson a Captain, he’s the Ship’s Master and he’s a bit fussy about that”.

“I don’t deal with the crew”.

“Shame, if you did you’d realise they’re my friends as well as my crew”.

“I will be coming with you when you meet them”.

“Good, soon I hope”

“I think so”.

It went on, honestly it all started to become a bit of a blur. We stopped for lunch at some point and then it kept going. Cathy clearly started fishing again, but I wasn’t biting. In the end we stopped when the other children came back from school. Cathy left and they served us dinner.


	20. Waterdancing

I’d barely moved from the one place all day, when I got up off the seat I was stiff. Everyone was heading to watch the TV for an hour before they had to do ‘homework’ from school for two hours. I stayed behind in the dining room, Sascha, Phoebe and Sophie stayed with me.

“What are we doing then”.

“Well I’m water dancing, I’m, not sure why you stayed with me”.

“We’re your gang, we’re roomies, we do everything together”.

“Oh like my crew”.

“Oh no a crews a drugs gang we’re not that sort we don’t do drugs”.

Well that was nice to know, I assumed by drugs they meant milk of the poppy or similar so again I’d keep my mouth shut about my past experience.

“So this water dancing shouldn’t we be in the showers”.

“No its called water dancing because you let your body flow, it’s about smooth movement, because smooth is faster than jerky. In a sword fight every time you stop and have to restart you’re losing speed to a waterdancer who just stays in motion”.

“So this isn’t for the Friday night disco then”.

“If I knew what a disco was it would help, but I’m guessing no”.

“Ah maybe I’ll skip it then, coming you two”, Sascha started to leave.

“No I’m stopping, I want to watch”

“Oh alright then”.

“You don’t have to”.

“Like I said we’re a team”.

“OK”, I was getting used to that term. I moved a few tables to give me space.

“If you need room we’d be better in the hall”.

“The hall”.

“Yes right at the other end of the building there’s a big hall where we go to have any big meetings and the disco”.

So we went to the hall, Sophie was right, no need to move the tables and when I got on my toes the floor was wooden and springy which made it less strain on my knees. So I started, gently because I was still feeling stiff, but as I warmed up and got going I just naturally sped up. I realised I hadn’t danced for months, no space on the ship. If you get to real speeds you lose track of people that are out of your immediate line of vision so it was a bit of a surprise when I came to a stop to find about twenty girls and Helen watching me. There was a smattering of applause, which was a bit confusing because it’s not a performance it’s practice, but I thought of what Helen had said and said nothing. Not so the girls.

“How do we do that”, “Show us please”, “Yes come on, we can do that”. Helen walked up to me, “Can you show them, maybe just something simple for starters”.

“Right then”, I faced them “We start with something simple and repetitive. I know you want to copy me but you can’t, possibly not for years”. That provoked some backlash.

“Ah it’s like ballet then, only for the swots”,

A few left but I still had a dozen so I started, “Right just imagine you’re chasing a cat or better still a little kitten and it’s going to run round you in a simple figure of eight, you know what I mean round in a circle in front of you then past you and a circle the other way behind you”.

“Duh, we know what an eight is”

“Good so, you’re going to chase the kitten, but not step on it. There isn’t a set way, like put your first foot here or anything, you each find your own way, it’s about finding a rhythm and then speeding up without falling over your own feet”.

“Can we have some music”.

“No because that fixes you all in one rhythm and besides there’s no one around to play you a tune when you’re fighting for your life”.

“You’ve not heard the bagpipes then”.

“No”; I did later, you can’t waterdance to the bagpipes.

So I started slowly in front of them for a few minute then turned round to watch. Most of them had stopped and were watching me but five of them including Phoebe were trying. None of them were going that fast and one was far too jerky, but the others were taking their first steps. The trouble was, as soon as they saw me watching they stopped. “Why did you stop”.

“You’re watching”

“Well yes”

“So you’re just going to take the micky ‘cos we’re crap”.

“No, actually for a first go most of you are quite good and the point is you’re all trying. Since we’re not practicing to kill people all that really matters is that you’re moving smoothly, not falling over and enjoying yourself”. The response wasn’t instantly positive.

Helen spoke up, “Right well it’s time for homework anyway, but thank you Arya for showing us. I’ve got the wrong sort of shoes on tonight, but I’m coming in something more suitable tomorrow and I want to join in if you don’t mind”.

“No that’s fine, you can’t waterdance on a ship, so I’ve missed a lot of practice it will be good to get back to doing it”.

The children went out, Helen stayed behind, “You could be the best thing that’s happened here for years. They need things like that to get them out of the rut of watching the TV. Are there other things we could learn from you, the sorts of things we don’t do here”.

“Assuming you don’t want me to teach them to kill people actually I’m a bit limited, I was always getting told off for not sewing properly or going to other lessons because all I wanted to do was ride a horse and fight, then I got on the ship to come here and decided to learn to sail”.

“Oh well, even if we get them waterdancing it will be something”.

The rest of the night followed what I realised was clearly a well-worn path. When they’d finished their homework they were allowed some more time in front of the TV and we were all sent to bed.


	21. Lots of sailors

So, next morning Cathy turned up, I can go with her and see the crew. We got in the car box and wove between a lot of other cars and some much bigger, lorries and buses. Cathy seemed quite relaxed, I wasn’t, we were clearly going faster than a charging horse at times; however we arrived at another large bland building and went inside to a small room. We sat at one side of a table and Marcus was brought through to sit at the opposite side. A man in a different uniform came with him.

“Remember Mr Stanson, no touching”.

“Understood I’m not stupid you told me three times already”.

“It’s for your own good mate, some smart arse got you off on the grounds whatever you did, you did outside our waters, but one false move in here and they’ll prosecute you and we’ll start all over again”.

Marcus ignored the man and looked at me, “Are they being as cheerful with you as us”.

“No, I’m fine, no problems like this rubbish. I’m stuck in with a bunch of children because I’m not old enough to be treated like an adult, but the ones I’m sharing with are fine”. I turned towards the man “For your information I’m the smart arse who pointed out that outside your waters I’m actually in charge, not bad for a child eh”. He gave me a look that wasn’t friendly. I turned back to Marcus. “Is everyone else OK”.

He gave me a funny look “OK”

“Sorry local term for alright”.

“Ah, yes the metal dragon got to us before anyone got more than a bit delirious. They’re all back there”, he indicated over his shoulder, “You get to see them just before you leave. In effect they can come and wave goodbye”.

“They’re treating you like prisoners”.

“Pretty much, but at least the accusation of us being child molesters has gone away, we’re just illegal entrants”.

“If you’re all here who’s looking after the Petrel”.

“No one but the box you’re worried about is in safe hands, well I hope so, the people on the boat who brought us in have it under lock and key and I have the key to the lock on the actual box”.

“Good because I want some of the contents out to convert into local currency”.

Cathy chipped in, “I can take you to the naval base after this visit, but you’ll need something from this man to say you’re entitled to the money”.

“You’ll need the key first”, he turned to the man “Would you bring me, my property box please”.

“Later”.

“Later is no use. You’ve heard the young lady, I need to give her the key and then write a note to the people who are looking after the box for me”.

I chipped in “I’m sitting here until I get the key and the letter I need”.

He looked at me “No you’re not I can chuck you out any time I like”, but then he started talking into a box on his shoulder “Charlie its Mick with the foreigner in the visitors room, bring his personal effects box and some writing things will you”. The box squealed, I couldn’t make out the reply.

We sat and waited. I don’t know whether they expected us to chatter, but Marcus and I could do companionable silence for a four hour watch if the mood took us, so we just sat there smiling at each other. After a while a second man arrived with a box. Funny how two people wearing the same uniform can be so different.

“Now then how can I help”.

“I’d like to write a letter for Arya, the young lady over there, to take with her and I want a key from my possessions”.

“Right mate no sweat”. The second man unlocked the box, Marcus looked inside and pulled the key out on a piece of leather thong and was about to pass it to me when Mr Cheerless butted in. “Do I have to remind you again no touching, put the key on the far side of the desk the” he paused, he was picking his words “Young lady, can pick it up”. Marcus complied and I took the key and pocketed it.

“Loosen up Dave, take the rule book out of your arse, she’s clearly not frightened of him”. The second man turned to me, “Some people are so keen to follow the rules they forget to think”.

Marcus had picked up what looked like a pencil and started to write. It didn’t take him long, then he pointedly folded the note and put it on the table. I reached forward for it. Mr grumpy was ready to say something, I could see it in his eyes, but the second man actually picked the paper up and gave it me. “Thank you, sir”.

“Oh don’t call me Sir miss, I work for my living”, he was grinning as he said it so I think it was some sort of in joke, so I grinned back. The papers simply read ‘The bearer of this letter and my key is to be given access to the Petrel’s strong box Marcus Stanton Master’. Marcus looked at me

“Right then off you get and sort the money out”.

“I’ll see you soon”.

“No rush we’re not going anywhere and the grubs not bad”.

As I turned to walk out the door was opened and the rest of the crew were lead in by a bunch more men. Mr Grumpy piped up “Keep walking miss and wave as you walk”, so I did and everyone waved back.

So we went back outside and into the car and another uncomfortable trip until we pulled up outside another boring box of a building and went inside. There’s a young man behind the desk in another sort of uniform.

I showed him the paper and the key, “I’ve come to take some things from the Petrel’s strongbox”.

“Give me a minute please”, he picked up some sort of curved thing and stuck it between his ear and mouth and pressed the box it was attached to by a length of something bendy, but clearly not string. “Hello sir it’s Brookes on the front desk Sir, do you know anything about a strong box from the Petrel. Yes, no it’s a young lady, but she’s got a large key and a note from a Marcus Stanson saying she’s to have access to the box. Right sir”. He put the talking device down. “Duty Officer says he knows where it is and he’ll be right down”.

We waited a few minutes and another young man turned up in a smarter version of the same uniform with rings on his shoulders.

“I’m lieutenant Rodney, can I help ladies”. What he said was ‘leftenant’, apparently some things aren’t exactly spelt as they are spoken over here.

I gave him the note, which he read quickly and then turned to me. “I’m sorry but the note doesn’t tell me who you are”.

“Arya Stark”

“And you’ve come from Westeros so I don’t suppose you’ve any idea what I mean if I asked for proof of identity”.

“Some sort of paper saying I am Arya Stark, but if I did it would be signed by my sister the Queen of the North and you’ve no idea who she is so it wouldn’t help you. I think you have to work on ‘I’ve got the key’” and to prove my point I dangled it on the leather thong.

“Yes I think you’re right, so if you would follow me ladies”.

Brookes speaks up “Hang on Sir I’ve not completed their security passes yet”. We get asked names; Cathy produced what she called her driving licence and her Social Services Department pass. I looked at him and shrugged, the officer laughed “Just give her the pass; I doubt a little strip of a girl like her can do any damage in here”.

I wondered about telling him otherwise then thought better of it. We went down a few corridors and into a room marked ‘Stores’, up to an older man standing at the desk. His uniform’s the same as the man on the door plus a brown rough looking long coat.

“Morning Davis, we took a large strongbox in from that old wooden ship we pulled in yesterday. The young lady needs to get into it so would you bring it here please”.

“Morning sir, can we take her to it sir, it weighs a ton, must be full of gold or something”, this produced a lot of laughter by both men.

“Fine”.

“This way please Ma’am”

He lifted a flap and let me walk round the back. Ma’am, that’s a new one, not miss, I presumed some sort of naval thing. We went down a row of metal racks and come to a stop next to our box on the floor underneath the shelves. “Would you mind pulling it out I can’t get the lid up otherwise”.

“Of course ma’am” and he leant down and slid it out across the floor. There was something rough on the bottom because it clearly scratched the polished surface.

“Bother, [did I hear that right] oh beg pardon ma’am not polite language”.

“I’ve been at sea for three months on a ship full of very old sailors; if bother is the worst you can manage they’d consider you a bit of a lightweight”. The officer was having a quiet laugh behind Davis’ back.

“Still shouldn’t ma’am we have standards in the navy, like that shiny floor, which will have to be buffed and bumpered before the captain’s inspection. Anyway your box”.

I put my key in the lock and tried to turn it, it was stiff and didn’t want to move.

“Hang on a mo ma’am”

He went away and came back with a small can and dripped oil into the lock. I tried again and it turned easily. “Thank you sir”.

“Don’t call me sir, oh never mind ma’am”.

“You’re the second person to say that I’m sorry you’ll have to explain it to me”.

He looks nervous, “Some other time maybe Ma’am”.

The Officer joins in, “It’s a lower ranks joke, officers are called sir and we don’t do any work, we only tell lower ranks what to do, which apparently doesn’t count as real work, so ‘Don’t call me sir I work for my living’”.

“Ah ,well then how do I address you”.

“I’m Leading Seaman Davis ma’am”.

“That’s very formal, do you have a first name”.

“Roger ma’am”.

“Then thank you Roger and I’m Arya, because I beginning to suspect ma’am is also an officer type title and I’m not an officer either”.

“Anyway let’s have this lid up” and he took hold and swung it out of the way “Bloomin' 'eck, did you know about this sir”.

The officer looked into the chest “Oh”, he was obviously pretty inclined to swear as well but he’s controlling himself well. “I had no idea there was gold in it. We can’t leave this here. Go and fetch the Master-at-Arms and tell him to bring a security detail; then alert the armoury, this is going somewhere a lot safer”.

“Sir!” and Roger was on his way, clearly this was not a job to wait.

“So, is this a lot of money where you come from”.

“Enough, but not massive, it would pay for a couple of the ships we came in, we’d expect to live on it for a year or two if we were being careful. Then there’s the sapphire I’ve no idea how much that’s worth, but no one in Old Town would offer to buy it off me so probably more than the gold”. I realised that I was looking at a very worried man, he’d clearly never seen this much gold in his life.

“I think gold’s a lot more common where you come from than here. There’s enough here to buy a couple of decent missile cruisers. There are small city states with less gold than this in government coffers”.

“So I won’t need to take much out to convert into local currency for the next month or so”.

“I’m no expert but I’d say one coin will get you enough to live on for several years, that’s all of your crew, not just you”.

“Right, thank you, that saves me carrying any more then”, I took one dragon out and stuffed it in my back pocket. As I did three men came down the aisle, an older one leading looking very smart and two behind carrying what are obviously weapons. I had no idea how they worked but there’s a tube so I guessed some sort of arrow went in and then comes back out at speed.

“Davis came flapping into my officer and said we’d got the defence budget in the stores in gold coins” he looks into the box, “Flipping heck! [or something like that] Oh sorry ma’am”.

“I need a notice round my neck, ‘My name’s Arya and I swear quite a lot too’”.

Roger turned up again pushing a small two wheeled trolley “This should cope with it sir.”

“Smart move Davis. Right if you’ve got what you need Arya and I’m sure you have can we get it locked again and moved to the armoury. Then I’m afraid we’re going to have to count it and issue you a receipt”.

At this point Cathy interrupts “I’m sorry but I can’t spend much more time here and I need to get you back to the home Arya, we should go”.

The officer was clearly not letting me out of the building “I’m sorry, but I have to insist the young lady stays here until the items have been properly inventoried and signed for”.

“Well I have to go and she’s a minor”, Cathy is clearly setting herself up for a fight

“Not a problem ma’am, I can assure you that the navy will take Miss Stark back to wherever she needs to go after we’ve sorted her money out. Miss Stark do you need a female officer with you or will I do”.

He gave me his best, trust me grin. Actually he’s quite a decent young man; he looked quite fit and muscled without being over heavy. I stopped myself, Arya concentrate. “I’m fine with you Rodney”.

“That’s my surname, my given name is Andrew usually shortened to Andy”.

I look at Cathy, she’s giving up, “Well if you’re OK with that Arya; I’m realising I might as well let you do what you want. So lieutenant, she needs to be taken back to Stratton Road Children’s Home”.

I noticed Andy’s eyebrows rise at this information, but he said nothing.

So, we locked the box back up and Roger levered it onto the trolley. Another seaman was found to take Cathy back to the entrance. One of the armed men lead off and the second followed on behind us as we left the building by a back door, we crossed a large open area and headed for an even less impressive looking building, I was thinking that they don’t go in for decoration in this place. Well it’s impressive in one way, it looks like it’s made of one lump of rock with a few very small doors in it. As we went inside I realise the walls are about a foot thick. This is what passes for a castle in these parts. Once we’re inside we turned quite quickly into an office with a back wall that is one massive metal door. I was handed over to Commander Nelson, clearly a more senior officer and the two men with weapons and Lt Rodney left.

“Right, Arya if you would open up for us”. I obliged with the key, Roger’s oil had worked wonders, so we soon had the lid open. The Commander does the compulsory goggle eyes but manages not to swear, although it’s obvious the words are on the tip on his tongue. Then we got the coins out and weighed them. This took some time but Commander Nelson insisted it must be done exactly. Once they’re all weighed the coins went back in the box. Then I got the sapphire out of the bag and that was weighed too. Then it went back in and I relock the box.

“Well Arya, there’s 50.634 kg of gold and the sapphire weighs 486 grams, would you please sign here, press quite hard so it comes out on the copies below please”, he gave me a piece of paper and some sort of writing stick. I wrote ‘Arya Stark of Winterfell’ where he points; which makes made think, the ‘of Winterfell’ bit is a bit superfluous over here.

He took the paper back took the top copy and gave me the second one, there are at least two more underneath. These people love paper as much as Cathy.

He continued “I have no idea if the gold’s pure or how to value the sapphire, but Mr Rodney was right, you have enough to buy a pair of large warships here. The coin in your pocket is probably enough to live like a rich woman for ten years. You need to take the coin to a major bank and get it deposited and an account opened. Then they’ll give you a small piece of plastic, which lets you spend the money without the risk of people stealing it”.

“Thank you, most of that makes sense except what’s plastic”.

He removed something from his pocket with his picture on it

“This is my navy ID card, your credit card will be the same size and shape”, he bent it slightly “A bit flexible, but push too hard and it will crack”.

“But what is plastic”.

“It’s what it’s made out of, by clever science I don’t really understand”.

“OK”. He went to the big door and opened it by pressing a series of buttons on the front; when he got it open I realised that the door is about a foot thick. The box went in, the door was shut.

“There, at some point your bank needs to come and get it, but for now I’m happy to say the Megalo Limani Navy of is going to keep it safely for you”.

“Thank you commander”.

“It’s been a pleasure Arya and I’ll be able to dine off the ‘I was the man who first saw the size of the box of gold she brought over’ story for the rest of my career”.

I didn’t point out that he wasn’t the first he was just the highest rank so far because I know how hierarchies work, when this story is told by the officers, Roger will be long forgotten. I was taken back to the front desk by the Master at Arms, who was obviously waiting to do so. I discovered that he’s called Tony Johnson and as we walked back he fired a string of questions at me about the trip. I found it funny that he was the first one to bother to do that. He sounded a bit sceptical when I mention the sea serpent so I offered to show him the scars. He got a very panicked look “No, sorry Arya, I shouldn’t have doubted you. I’m nearly at the end of my twenty-two years and I don’t want to get kicked out now”.

I thought about this, am I getting a bit odd, I’d not have made that sort of offer in Westeros either, too long at sea. Anyway he took me to hand in my security pass and then Andy took me outside to another car. “I’ve volunteered to run you to the bank and then back to the home”.

We got to a bank, apparently it’s the one Andy uses, but is also one of the biggest in the city. The car had to be left some distance away as the bank is in a ‘pedestrian only area’, which apparently means no cars.

So we go into the bank, Andy told the first woman we meet I wanted to open an account and deposit some gold bullion. The girl looks surprised at the last bit, “How much Bullion”.

I pulled the coin out of my back pocket, “Here it is, I gather it’s fairly valuable but we were travelling so we didn’t bring smaller coins”. Her eyes were wide open as was her mouth. She left ‘to fetch the manager’; he’s a short fat man going bald with glasses called Mannering, although when he gives me his ‘card’ it’s written Mainwaring, he took one look at the coin and almost purred. He tells me that I can open a current account and get a credit card, then I can open a deposit account for most of the money so it will earn interest. Later I’ll need to came back and talk to a financial advisor about how to invest it. Inevitably a pile of paper had to be completed, but he’d barely got started before we hit the rocks of my age again. “Well she can’t have a credit card, just a debit card and she really can’t open account without an adult to countersign all the paperwork”.

I was getting a bit tired by now and my temper is getting short. “Look do you want the money or do I go elsewhere”.

“No, no we will sort something out and it won’t be any different anywhere else; this is the law concerning banking and minors”.

Andy tried to help “Can I sign as the adult, I’ve seen the rest of the pile of coins she owns you’re not going to be out of pocket”.

Mainwaring’s eyes bulged at the mention of more coins, but “It’s not that simple young man, the person who signs must be legally responsible for Miss Stark, parent or guardian. I have great respect for the navy but it’s just not allowed. What I can do is take the coin and give you a receipt, I’ll advance you 100 pounds in cash and note that on the receipt then you can come back with whoever is responsible for you tomorrow. We need to do that anyway as I can’t give you an exact value for the coin until it’s been to head office for assay”.

I looked at Andy he shrugged, which I interpretted as ‘the best you’re getting today’ so I accepted. I got a pile of papers marked one, five and ten pounds. I shoved them in my back pocket prompting more objections that I need a wallet, so Andy agreed he’d take me and buy one. This is comparatively easy, we walked a few hundred yards down the road and went into a shop. I picked a simple folding thing, which had a big slot for the money and some smaller ones, which Andy said will take my bank card and ‘all the other ones you’ll end up with’. The wallet cost £9.99 so I gave them a note for ten and they gave me the tiniest little cheap looking brown metal coin I’ve ever seen, which is apparently the one penny change. I looked at Andy.

“You could always put it in the charity box” and he pointed to a container on the counter with a slot in it. I flicked the penny in the slot and noticed that the label on the front says Stratton Road Children’s Home. As we walked back out of the door to the car I couldn’t help asking “Have I just subsidised the place I’m living at”.

“Yes, I’m a bit surprised you’re there. It’s the nearest thing to a prison for young girls, that isn’t an actual prison. To be honest I don’t like the idea of you being in there. By reputation it’s a bit of a rough place. You seem a nice girl and you’ve not done anything wrong, they should have put you somewhere better”.

It was tempting to laugh at him, if only he knew, he’s probably eight or ten years older than me but he seems so sweet. I resisted and defended my new friends “I’ve not had any real trouble and the girls I share a room with are OK”.

We arrived back at the home and Andy insisted on coming in and meeting Helen to explain what we’d done since we left Cathy. Helen wasn’t amused Cathy had left me with the navy and described her as a clock watcher but agreed that Andy has looked after me well. However she wasn’t happy that I’d got money on me. “I’m sorry Arya but I’ve got to insist that you hand it to me. If you keep it you might lose it, or it might get lost”. Andy rolled his eyes at this, we’ve both worked out she means stolen, again I resisted the urge to explain why I don’t think anyone will try and take my money, I was thinking ‘if I bite my tongue one more time it will bleed’. So my wallet and the bank receipt went in a locked drawer in Helen’s office, I said good bye to Andy and went and got my dinner. The evening was another waterdancing session and some TV watching. I was slowly beginning to work out who’s who in the programmes we watch, but equally quickly losing interest in the subject matter.


	22. Not another Sansa Stark

The next morning we got up to a lot of bigger box vehicle, vans apparently, and noise outside the building. People were trying to get in the front door, which had been locked. Sascha was very excited, “The press and TV have finally found out where you are. You’ll have to go outside and do an interview, tell them all about yourself and how you got here; but don’t say much, tell then you’ll do more in depth interviews later when they’ve contacted your agent”.

“Who’s my agent, more to the point what’s an agent”.

“The people who organise you going on TV to make you the most money, they take a cut of course, but you’ll get rich and be famous, then you might get to meet some famous people. Play your cards right and you could marry a rock star”.

Helen had come up behind us, “Not everyone wants to marry a rock star Sascha, Arya might want a career”.

“Why”

“Because getting married means having babies and I don’t want to. That’s why I sailed over here, something to do that didn’t mean having babies and sewing”. When I’d said it I paused, well it was true, but I did feel I’ve just undressed myself in public.

Sascha was unimpressed “That’s back where you came from, over here there’s the pill and stuff and you make a boy wear a Jonny, so you don’t get an STD”. She faced Helen with an air of triumph “See, I do listen in class”.

Helen had a tired look “When it suits you I’m sure you do Sascha, like when it has to do with sex. I’m not so convinced you pay attention in Geography or Maths”.

“They’re boring and what’s the point”.

“Well as I’ve sailed over here the ships master has been teaching me to navigate, which has quite a bit of maths involved and he knows lots about sea currents and drawing maps, which is geography. It’s his skill that kept us all alive”.

Sascha went a bit quiet then changed the subject, “So Helen, is Arya going to talk to them or are you going out to give the same sort of bland statement you do if one of us does something bad enough to get in the papers”.

“No one’s going to talk to anyone, the police have been called and they’ll clear them all way”.

“Won’t work, it will be all over the net by now, if you get rid of the press you’ll only get the cranks and the crazies replacing them”.

Most of this is passing me by, but I know enough about crowds to know you don’t make them go away by ignoring them. “Helen, go and tell them I’ll go outside and talk to them for a few minutes, just a short speech. I’ll finish off by telling them to go away and write to us asking politely for a longer audience and I’ll give a longer talk to them later”.

Helen looked at me like she thought I was mad, “Are you sure”.

The answer was ‘no not entirely’, but it seemed like the best answer. I’m not bothered about talking to a bunch of people, I’d seen the likes of Sansa and Tywin Lannister do it before. “Yes”.

Helen left and came back quite quickly. “I’ve told them they can come into the hall, you can stand on the stage. You’ll explain where you’ve come from. The police are here so they will make sure everyone behaves”.

“Right lets go then”, we walked round to the hall, Helen lead me by a route I’ve not use before that takes you to the stage from behind. I stepped out from the wings and walked to the front, there’s a lot of shouting and people were waving what look like furry animals on sticks in my direction. I stand still and looked a foot over their heads to the back of the hall and wait. After a few minutes it went quiet, I can ever hear one of two ‘shush’ noises. 

“Good morning, my name is Arya Stark and I have come across what I call the Sunset Sea from Westeros to find what is here. So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve found. Firstly I’d like to thank your navy for rescuing us all as our ship had been damaged in a storm and we might have ended up just a mile or two short of our destination if they hadn’t helped out. Then I’d like to thank Helen and the girls here for making me feel at home. It would be nice if my friends on the ship’s crew weren’t being held as if they had committed some sort of crime and I have to admit that being told I’m a child is a bit frustrating. In my home country I’ve been an adult for a year or two, but I’m sure we’ll work things out”. I stopped and people started shouting, probably questions, but I can’t hear one over another so I went back to staring at the wall behind them again. After a while it went quiet. I pointed at a woman on the front row “Do you have a question” 

“So you’re an economic migrant, you’ve just come here for a better life, you’re not fleeing oppression at all”.

“I came to explore, I had no idea if I’d find people like you, people like me or no people at all, that was the point, to see what is here”.

“So you won’t be claiming social benefits then, you can pay your own way”.

“I spoke to a naval officer yesterday who was helping me sort out the gold I brought with us”. It goes very quiet, suddenly I thought mentioning a lot of gold might have be a bad idea. Oops feet first again Arya, I could hear Marcus voice in my head, ‘Stop think, think again then speak’ – sorry Marcus.

“You’ve brought gold with you”

“Some, he said we wouldn’t need help to live”

“How much”

“I’m not sure, no one seems to know exactly what it was worth, but we will all be able to live on it. Of course if we’re not welcome we might just pay to have our ship repaired and sail home”. There was a silence when I said this. I decided it‘s time to change the subject so I pointed at another man at random further back. “Your question sir”.

“Are you being adequately protected against cultural imperialism, are your cultural values being adequately respected by the agencies of government, have you been allowed to pray when you want, are you getting the diet you require”.

I wasn’t sure I understand half the question, but I think I can tackle the prayer and diet bit. “I don’t pray much, I find that the gods help those who help themselves, although as I said I probably owe my life to your navy. As to diet, I’ve spent three months living on salt pork and pickled cabbage” I stuck a pause in they were quiet, waiting for the answer “So anything different is very welcome at present, particularly if it doesn’t make me fart”. The silence is deadly, oops fart jokes aren’t a good idea either. I pressed on “Next question” and pointed at another older looking woman 

“It appears to me young lady that you could do to pray a good deal more and moderate your language. You voluntarily went onto a ship full of men with no chaperone, to some communities here that makes you a girl of low morale values”.

“Do you have an actual question”.

“As I said you are not showing cultural respect for all communities in the Dragon Lands, this sectarianism may be acceptable where you come from, but we have higher standards here”.

No one was shouting at her to shut up, and I was getting tired of her “Thank you for your time, if you want to speak to me more on a one to one basis, to ask sensible questions” I gave the woman the eye and got it back “You should write to me here and I’ll discuss things with Helen and write back to you. Now I have to go, Thank you” and I walked back into the wings. I heard a deep male voice “Thank you ladies and gentlemen please leave the hall in an orderly fashion and remove your vehicles from the double yellow lines promptly”. Helen took me back round to her office. While I’ve been talking the children have caught the buses to school.

“Well Arya that could have gone a lot worse, but also a bit better”.

“Mmm, the fart joke wasn’t a good idea was it”. 

“Certainly not with the woman from the Purity League present. They’re a minority but a vocal one, upset them and they’ll come and camp outside and become a thorough nuisance. Actually I’m more worried about your reference to the gold, you have a lot of gold on the ship”.

“Well it’s in the safekeeping of the navy at present, but yes it appears we’re not going to be asking for help to pay the bills”.

“You need to be very careful Arya, there are people who will want to part you from that money”.

“So you wouldn’t accept a donation”, that stopped her in her tracks.

“Yes, we’re always short of funds, but a sensible donation, not everything you’ve got”.

“Right well before I donate I have to get my bank account sorted out. Apparently I need the signature of an adult, who is responsible for me, is that you”.

“At present yes”

“Good, well if we can get to the bank this morning I can make a donation as part of setting everything up”.

With Helen with me everything at the bank became quite simple. Effectively she signed everything I signed to set things up. The bank manager had clearly been organising overnight because the gold had been valued and an investment advisor was also present. Helen, told him we’ll also be contacting an independent financial advisor, which didn’t please him, but that seemed sensible to me whe Helen explained it later. We discussed the rest of the gold and the sapphire. The bank manager was clearly out of his league when he worked our roughly how much I’m worth and more to the point that the box needed moving from the navy stores. This was a matter for head office, which meant it wouldn’t happen today. I told him I’d had no messages from the Navy saying ‘Get your box out of our stores’. 

We get back to the home in time for lunch. Helen went to check her e-mails, some sort of electronic post. I’m thinking ‘what these people would ever do if the electricity ran out I don’t know’. She came back looking flustered and asked me to come into her office. I sat in front of small screen and she fiddled around until a sheet of words appear. It’s marked FAO Arya Stark and read

‘Dear Arya, Welcome to The Dragon Lands, my name is Sansa and I’m your something times removed cousin [I can’t be bothered to work the number out]. I’m descended from Brandon Stark, who sailed across from Westeros a long time before you did. I’m about your age so mum says its best I mail you. Obviously we’ve been here since before the industrial revolution so we’re fully integrated into modern society, but I think we should keep in touch and you’re welcome to visit if you think you need to. Love Sansa’

Then there’s a second ‘Arya, just seen you on TV, dad’s joking that as head of the Stark family in The Dragon Lands the gold is his by hereditary right. At least I hope he’s joking because I don’t want to boast but we’re pretty well off so he doesn’t need any more money. Mum says come and stay any time you like. Sansa’.

I turned to Helen “Have you ever heard of the Starks”.

“Not before today but I’ve looked them up on the web before I came to see you. They mostly live in the New Westeros area. It looks like when they arrived they set up a town and a lot of them are still in there. Your cousin Sansa and her mum are high profile local socialites so they get plenty of mentions; her father is big in local business and politics. That doesn’t put them in the huge internationally rich class, which if I understand Mr Mainwaring, that box of gold means you probably are”.

“Oh, people really are getting excited about that amount of money”. 

“Yes”. There’s a beep sound, Helen leans past me, does something and another letter opens up on the screen. We read it together.

‘To whom it may concern, Please be aware that as the Stark family’s solicitor I have been instructed to apply to the courts for power of wardship over Arya Stark, a minor of the Stark family. Until such time as the court resolve this issue it would be very unwise for any others to take actions impacting the financial affairs of Arya Stark as the family may consider that they have incurred personal liability for any losses made. Opening and reading this mail will be considered to amount to acknowledgment of the message. Yours D Sharkey’.

Helen said “Ships” 

“Can they do that”. 

“They’ll argue that he’s your nearest family and the legal principle on minors is that family come first, so I’d say he’s got a good chance”.

“Even if I say I don’t want him to”.

“We’re back to the minor problem again”.

“Except it isn’t a minor problem. I don’t know these people at all, it sound like they just want the money”.

“I’m afraid I did warn you”.

At this point there’s a ringing sound and Helen picks up another bent thing like the ones the naval men used yesterday and speaks to it “Stratton Road Children’s home, Helen Watkins, manager speaking”, she pauses obviously listening and then looks at me “Marcus Stanson, your skipper, do you want to speak to him”.

I virtually grab the thing out of her hands, “Marcus is that you, are you alright, have you got out of that horrible place you were yesterday”.

The voice out of the top of the thing replies “Slow down Arya, we’re all fine, and yes we’ve been moved back to the naval base. In theory we’re on the Petrel assisting with repairs, but actually they’ve put us up in a block of rooms. I was offered officer’s quarters, but said no, so we’re all together”.

I suddenly felt very weak, I realised I was upset that they had been in what seemed like prison and this was relief. I took a deep breath. “Do you know why”.

“Yes apparently an officer you saw yesterday, Andy Rodney, found out where we were and spoke to his father, who’s Admiral Rodney a lot further up the order of importance and the Navy have decided they need us to supervise repairs to the Petrel. As soon as we were out of the detention centre Andy admitted it was a lie to get us out. Apparently you’ve been very positive about the navy on something called local TV and they like this; so we get well treated and they hope you say more nice things in future”.

“I don’t know if I’m going on TV again”.

“Andy seems to think you’ll be on a lot. He says the navy will also be happy to help you with what he calls ‘Media relations’, I think that means saying the right thing at the right time; which let’s be honest Arya isn’t always your strong point”. 

“My strong point is not saying anything it’s doing something”

“Yes and I think you’re going to have to seriously reassess what you can do around here. Violence is out, you’re going to have to learn how to talk your way to what you want”.

I thought briefly of Ella, well that wasn’t really violence, no weapon was involved.

“Arya are you still there”

“Yes, sorry my mind drifted for a second. As usual Marcus I will take your good advice, which brings me to a major point, someone’s trying to take over my life, some the old gods knows how many generations distant relation has and I quote ‘filed to make me his ward of court’. I think he’s just after our money.”

“Well its’ really your money”.

“No it’s not, not any more it’s our money, split half and half as a trading venture. Then if the worst happens they don’t just dump you and the crew”.

“Right, half of the gold is mine, I can’t really claim the sapphire can I”.

“Sadly no. You need to get Andy to help you out, try and get him to get you into town to open a bank account. They’ve a record of the weight of the gold, try and get a new one made out with it in two halves”.

“I’ll see what I can manage”.

“Good, look I think I need to look at the legal problem so I’ll ring you back later”.

“Ringing us it tricky since we’re on the base, easier if I ring you just after supper”.

“OK, not too late, lights out is nine o’clock”.

“Sometime between seven and eight”.

“That’s’ fine, bye”., there’s click, I put the piece I was holding down where it came from. “Helen, I need a lawyer”.

“Sadly I think you do, personally I don’t trust any of them, but in this case I think you have to protect yourself. The home uses a firm of solicitors for routine stuff; I doubt they’ll want to deal with this, but they’ll know a firm that will”.


	23. Legal advice

Which is how I found myself in the office of Salmon and Boxer, very strange name but Helen said, her solicitor said, they are ‘the best legal sharks in this town’ and apparently that is a recommendation. I’ve explained the basics now Mr Salmon was talking.

“So what we want is for you to be ruled an adult as that’s what you’re considered in your own country, but if we can’t get that then we want to keep this distant relative away from you by getting someone else made your guardian, ideally someone who will take a hands off role in your upbringing. Finally if all else fails then we need to establish that the gold is only half yours and half belongs to the ship’s captain, what did you say his name was”.

“Marcus Stanson”.

“Is my summing up accurate”.

“Yes”.

“Right so the bad news, I think we lose point one because although the law requires us to respect your cultural values it doesn’t allow you to break it. For example if your cultural values included say killing people with coloured skin or who didn’t believe in your choice of deity we’d still say the law says no killing and arrest you if you performed these acts. On those grounds you’re a minor and I think we’re stuck with it. So assuming we need a guardian do you have suggestions”.

“Helen”, here I indicate Helen who is sat beside me “Is willing, technically she’s my guardian in the home so it’s only really an extension of her job”.

“Pretty strong as long as you stay in the home, is that your long term plan”.

“Gods no, sorry Helen, but I want out and to get on with my life”.

“No need to apologise Arya, I want you to get on with your life. I’m here to offer any help I can but you have so much money the idea of you living in the home permanently is silly”.

“So who else might we ask”.

I’m nervous about saying this and I don’t know why “Marcus Stanson”.

“Have you asked him”.

“No, partly because I’m sure he’ll say yes so I don’t need to and partly because if you say it won’t work I don’t want to get him ready and then say we’ve changed our mind. I think that might upset him”.

“Well you need to ask him I’m afraid, although since he’s in no way related to you and he’s male, I think the chances of the court agreeing are small”.

“OK”.

Helen interrupts “Could we apply for joint warship, Mr Stanson and I together, I’m looking after Arya’s morale welfare, she will be sleeping in the home, but Mr Stanson can take her out during the day for her to pursue whatever other activates are relevant”.

“Probably our best option, but we still have the family first principle. I’ve looked into the Starks, they are rich enough to say they can look after you and there’s nothing in the family history in the way of dirt I can fling at them. They are also keen historians. It appears they are almost obsessive about their origins in Westeros so they have documents that prove their lineage all the way back, over a thousand years. Also I’ve had an application from them as soon as I notified them I was acting for you requesting a DNA sample”.

“A what”.

“In practical terms a small furry bud on a stick wiped over the inside of your mouth and put in a carefully sealed bottle. This allows them to tell if you are a Stark. You inherit half your DNA from your mother and half from your father so each generation the amount carried down gets diluted. After well over two hundred generations in theory there should be very little linkage, but sadly we know from examples of other old families that there’s quite a tendency to interbreed. Upper class people only bred with other upper class people for hundreds of years and even now they tend to stick together, so it limits the gene spread. There is a good chance that they will be able to show you are related”.

“My names not Lannister”.

“Sorry”.

“You’re suggesting my family engage in incest”.

“No, not in the way you’re thinking of, if you have two parents 4 grandparents 8 great grandparents then after 100 generations, about 2-300 years you have a number so much bigger than the number of people alive on the planet that in theory everyone is your relative several times. Since for most of history people didn’t travel far to marry we’re all really quite interbred, but not incestuously so”.

“You know it’s when you tell me things like that that I think the idea I’m a child over here isn’t actually that wrong, there’s so much I don’t know”.

“Please don’t say that in court or I’ll have wasted a couple of hours of argument”.

“Yes I understand”, the look on his face said he wasn’t sure I did, but then I suppose he probably did think of me as a child as well; but I was a rich child, he’d spoken to Mainwaring with me and been assured ‘Miss Stark has funds to pursue this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary’.

\------------------------------------------

So now it was time to have a conversation that for some reason I was frightened of, but I was far from sure why I was frightened. “Marcus there’s something I have to ask you”, I paused, there’s a bit of a silence

“Well go on then”.

“Strictly as part of my lawyer’s plans, if I can’t be deemed an adult he wants to suggest you as one of the two adults responsible for me. Is that all right”.

“Of course it is; why wouldn’t it be”.

I can hear his tone of voice he’s about to say something about he’d be honoured so I cut him off “Good, but it’s not a certainty only if he thinks that’s the only ways we can keep me out of this other Stark’s hands so it might not happen”.

“Arya I’ve coped with being responsible for you as the ship’s master since we left King’s Landing, it’s not been much of a chore”.

“You’d have to take me places during the day and then bring me back to the home every night; it could get quite a nuisance”.

“Arya relax, the answer’s yes. I’m not going sailing anywhere anytime soon, the Petrel’s pretty well finished and besides people over here only sail for fun or sport. If I’m going into business then it would be things called diesel engines, but I’m not, this was my last voyage, I’ve survived it, not least because of things you did, so I’m ready to become a boring old man propping up a bar near the docks. Except that actually isn’t a welcome thought so going around with you learning all about this place sounds like fun”.

“Are you sure”

“How many conversations have we had about ships masters having to be sure even when we’re not; but yes actually I’m sure”.

“Right then, I’ll tell the lawyer, he’ll need you to sign some papers to say so and you’ll probably have to come to the court, but before that he’ll want to talk to you to make sure you don’t say the wrong things”.

“Yes I’ve dealt with lawyers in Westeros I’m familiar with their version of the truth and how you tell it”.

“Is everything else going well”.

“I think so, they came for the strong box this morning, the Navy were impressed the number of security vehicles they sent and how they organised it; so our money is now with the bank and Mainwaring has put the gold in two accounts. He says there was nothing you said on the first visit that was specific about who owned what share. As a result I’ve got this plastic credit card thing and a bit of cash. Mainwaring did make a point, he asked was I paying the crew. We really should give them something. He said I could set up a company pension scheme which would pay them a monthly amount as long as they’re alive. Apparently this will avoid tax, which is good because since we’re really rather rich we may be paying quite a bit of tax. Apparently that’s something else we need to talk to another man from the bank about who specialises in reducing our tax burden. I always used to just make sure my money was at sea when they came calling, but apparently that doesn’t work over here”.

“Whatever we give the crew, or set up, it’s half and half Marcus”.

“None of that money was mine in the first place Arya, leave me to deal with the crew with my half, you keep your half to fund your lawyer”.

“Are you sure”.

“Yes look I’ve got to go, I’ll ring back in the morning, bye”, the line goes click. I’m not stupid he’d put the phone down to end the argument.


	24. So suddenly we're friends

In the morning the first phone call I got is not from Marcus it was from Sansa Stark.

“Hello Arya, it’s Sansa, look I’ve flown in from New Westeros this morning, I’ll be round at your place in about an hour and we can hit the town and the shops, get to know each other”.

“I’m rather busy”, which was a bit of a lie unless Marcus rang and suggested we have something to do but in those few words I’d decided I don’t like Sansa.

“Nonsense, you can’t be doing anything you can’t put off. We need to get to know each other Arya it’s important sisters stick together and share things”.

“Like the pile of gold I brought with me”.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that, people are giving you the wrong ides about me”.

No, I was pretty sure I was making an accurate character assessment of her, but I remembered Marcus going on about sailing to windward being the art of going where the wind doesn’t want you to and using the wind to do it. “Well come over and I’ll see what Helen will let us do”.

“Who’s Helen”, her tone had changed, all the friendliness gone.

“The lady who runs the home, she’s responsible for me until the court hearing”.

“Oh some council worker, she won’t be a problem”.

I think, ’she will if I encourage her to be’, “Well I’ll speak to her while you’re getting here, bye” and I put the handset back down. Like Marcus last night, that’s so much easier than having to turn your back on someone and walk off.

\---------------------------------------------

Sansa took an hour and a half to get to the home, that was ample time for Helen and I to concoct a plan, well not so much a plan, but an assurance from Helen that she was not abandoning me with Sansa. Sansa arrived in a car and came up to the doors, which are still locked because, the press keep trying to get in. We went down to answer the insistent ringing of the bell.

I opened the door, “Hello, you..” I got no further as I was grabbed and Sansa went through some sort of ritual of saying ‘Mwah’ three times while moving her head from side to side around my face without ever touching me. My initial reaction to knock her backwards when she grabs me was restrained; just, and then I just stood there in minor shock until she’d done.

“Arya, oh you’re a little cutie, but those eyebrows, they can’t be left like that. Right first stop a pamper parlour and get those trimmed and waxed”.

“Why”, I wanted to say so much more but I was biting my tongue, almost literally, not to.

“We have standards to keep up, you’re a Stark, we have a position in society, people will expect you to meet those standards. What might be acceptable amongst a bunch of medieval peasants isn’t acceptable here”.

“Well actually I’m not a peasant I’m a princess”.

“Yes daddy calls me that too. Of course it means nothing over here, democracy and all that. Look I don’t want to be rude but you really do have to change your ways to fit in”.

“I seem to fit in with the girls here quite well”, it’s true after the slight issue with Ella I’m getting on fine, the numbers coming to waterdancing go up every few days. This clearly wasn’t the thing to say, Sansa actually shuddered.

“My point exactly these girls are little short of criminals most of them would do very well in your world, grubbing around in the dirt”.

I was about to lose my rag when Helen ‘suddenly’ appears from where we’ve agreed she’ll wait for a while before joining us.

“Hello you must be Sansa Stark, I’m Helen Watkins the home manager”, she puts her hand out quite firmly for Sansa to shake, no ‘Mwah’ ritual for her.

“Oh hello, yes I’m Sansa, thanks for looking after Arya, but I can keep her busy for the rest of the day. I presume she had to be back for a set time under some silly rule or other”.

“I’m sorry Sansa, but I have to accompany Arya, so the three of us will be going together. Since your father started court proceeding I’ve had to take legal advice and Arya must stay with me or in this building at all times. Of course but for the court thing we could probably bend the rules a bit. Sorry but that’s how things are”.

“But you don’t understand”

“I’m afraid I understand very well and it’s a serious nuisance caused entirely by your father. I might add are you over eighteen”.

“I’m seventeen……. and a half”.

“So if we’re in the world of lawyers and rules that must be obeyed your father must have appointed some sort of adult to be responsible for you so far from home”.

“Er no, I’m quite old enough to look after myself”.

“Funny that’s what Arya says, with some greater justification having sailed six thousand miles to get here including the last hundred alone in a small vessel to save the lives of the whole crew; but according to the law you’re both equally minors. Now I’ll turn a blind eye to your father’s transgression for now although I ought to report him to child protection, but we all go out together today”.

I was holding myself in, never mind biting my tongue I was desperately trying not to burst out laughing. The look on Sansa’s face was priceless, then Helen turned to me and winked and I lost it completely.

Sansa clearly didn’t like being laughed at, “You two have cooked this up together haven’t you you’re just trying to make a fool of me. I told daddy you weren’t worth the effort, money or no money”.

I’ll swear she was on the verge of stamping her foot. I tried and get my giggles under control. “Look Sansa we’re both being used by your father, or rather he’s using you and trying to use me. When you get to know me a bit you’ll realise that’s not a good plan, I’ve had, let’s say a rough upbringing, so I can look after myself and I’m a bit inclined to fight back when I’m pushed around. So let’s start again, go out with Helen and see if as we get to know each other we find things in common that make us real fiends”. Personally I doubted this could happen but I was going to try.

Sansa took a deep breath, “I haven’t any choice, I’ve got to spend three days with you up to the court hearing”.

“Then let’s try and make them pleasant days”.

Helen asked, “I take it you’re booked in at a Hotel somewhere”.

“Of course, I’m at the Dorchester”.

“Very nice, well shall we go over there and get you booked in and drop your luggage, it’ll be time for a bit of lunch and then we can discuss where we go for the afternoon”.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

We arrived at the Dorchester in Sansa’s car, apparently she is old enough to drive one. The place is large and unlike so many of the very simple block buildings this one is stylish, very stylish. “This looks really nice”.

Helen answered “It’s called Art Deco, it was the height of fashion about ninety years ago, but it’s still considered stylish”.

“This is the sort of place you should be Arya, and you can be if Daddy becomes your ward”.

I said nothing; we got out of the car and left it with a man in a flashy uniform while we went in. As in a good palace there are servants everywhere. Sansa went and told people who she is, and we were taken up to her suite; a solar, two bedrooms, each with a bathroom.

Sansa turned to Helen once the hotel staff have gone “Look can’t you bend the rules a bit, there’s two bedrooms one for each of us. Come on Arya you’d rather be here than back at the home”.

“I really am sorry Sansa but your father has put me in a position where I can’t agree. It would be too easy for his lawyer to argue that leaving Arya with you proved I wasn’t fit to look after her”.

“Please I’m going to be really lonely once you go”.

“Well we don’t have to leave until late, I might stretch the time a bit so you can just go to bed yourself, when we leave”.

“Thank you, now are we going out for lunch down to the restaurant or getting room service”.

“Your choice, you’re far more used to this sort of thing than me”.

“Well room service is the easy option, we won’t want much will we, a small Caesar salad will be enough for me”.

“Actually I’m pretty hungry, I’m still eating to put back the weight Iost on the ship”.

“A second on the lips, forever on the hips”.

“I’ll take that risk, is that a menu on the table”.

“Looks like it”.

I picked the menu up and turned to Helen so we can look though it together. “Not much of this means anything to me, what are you having”.

“I’m not sure, I don’t usually have much at lunchtime, just a sandwich”.

“If I wanted something bigger”.

“Well pizzas are always quite filling; pepperoni’s my favourite if you like spicy food”.

“I’ll give it a try, is it something we could have back at the home”.

“Oh yes”.

“Pepperoni pizza it is then”. Sansa has picked up the phone and is speaking to someone

“And for you Helen”.

“I’ll have the Dorchester club sandwich please”.

Sansa passes or our requests, I can see by her face that my pizza is not exactly her idea of a proper lunch.

“So what are you planning we do this afternoon”.

“Well I thought we could get you trimmed and waxed and then a decent haircut and then we can hit the shops and find you some fashionable clothes”.

“Suppose I don’t want trimming or waxing, whatever waxing is”.

That provoked a big sigh, “Are you going to insist on staying looking like that, because if you are then clothes shopping’s going to be a waste of time. There’s no point in buying fashionable stuff unless you have the hair, nails and so on to fit with it”.

“I’ve looked like this, or actually a lot worse, most of my life, I’m used to it and it’s practical, long hair like yours would get in the way when I was doing things”.

“What sort of things”.

Actually I realised that that was a good question because it’s clear I’m not going to be climbing a mast any time soon; what am I going to be doing. “Good question, I’m not sure so I want to have hair that will cope if I find something energetic to do”.

“Well I ski and swim with this” she waves her head around to make her hair swirl around and then fall back into place.

“I’ll tell you what, if you forget about my eyebrows I’ll let you get my hair done in your style and then yes I do need some new closes, these are borrowed and what I had from the ship are caked in salt and in tatters”.

“Actually Arya, I’m afraid I threw them out, I tried to wash them and huge holes appeared, I think the salt had rotted them”.

“Oh well, then yes I need some new clothes but comfy practical stuff and definitely trousers not skirts or dresses”.

“Well if you insist, you’re taking a lot of the fun out of it, but I suppose that will be the challenge, I’ve got to make you society presentable while still keeping you happy that its practical”.

Lunch arrived and Helen and I tucked in while Sansa picked at her salad, this seemed to bother Helen.

“Sansa you do eat properly don’t you”.

Sansa gave her a, ‘What’s that to do with you’ look “I’m not going to make myself ill if that’s what you’re worried about, but I watch what I eat”.

I thought ‘she’s right she watches her food a lot; but doesn’t really eat much of it’. I discovered that I like pepperoni pizza and helped her out with her salad. Then we went to get my hair done and go shopping.

I’m not going to bore you with the conversation in every shop because each time it went the same way, Sansa picked things, I rejected them, she grumbled a bit then picked things I can at least wear even if they look decidedly too flashy colours for me. Sansa pronounced that I’m a green and yellow girl and proceeded on that basis. When I asked for something in black she did admit that, and I quote ‘every girl has to have a little black dress for formal occasions’ and tried to get me to buy something far too short. I started at the ankles, Sansa at the other end and we met in the middle with something just above my knees. I frankly felt undressed wearing it but Sansa insisted that below the knee is what her mother would wear and apparently looking like your parents is not acceptable. Helen who’d otherwise kept quite quiet did chip in at this point to say she agreed with Sansa on this issue. I tried to get Helen to buy something but she refused even when I insist it was my treat. I’m not sure why but that actually upset me a bit.

Arranging the haircut meant we’d had to shop first so we went back to the Dorchester and dropped off our purchases. Sansa hadn’t been tight treating herself so there were a lot of bags to leave behind. I got the distinct impression that this was pay off for being sent to see me. 

It was a short walk to the hair salon, well I thought it was a short walk and Helen wasn’t complaining but half way there Sansa started to grumble we should have taken the car, but we got there and after a last attempt to talk me into doing something about my eyebrows I was simply washed, cut and blow dried. The last bit reminded me of the trip in the helicopter, lots of noise and wind. When they’d finished I had to admit I liked the effect, the hair fell round my face making everything look softer. This was the new me, the softer fluffy cuddly Arya Stark in smart clothes, I’d been made to to keep some of the new things on as soon as I’d agreed to buy them. Sansa had wanted my old things thrown away but I’d pointed out they belonged to the home and were only on loan.

And back to the Dorchester again for dinner, The chef is from the capitol Kyrotome and all the food has strange names, Helen and I let Sansa order for all of us. It is all very enjoyable and exquisitely laid out, but it all comes in really rather small quantities. Still after several courses, at least two more than Sansa I’m satisfied. We left the table and moved back to the entrance area and Sansa asked for her car to drive us back to the home. As we’re waiting I got some practice in reading the clock and realised we’d manged to use up a lot of the evening, there’d be no time to waterdance when I get home it would be floss and bed.

And so it proved, I literally sprinted up the stairs, threw my bags by my bed, went once round the bathroom and back into bed with Helen standing by the switch. As a result I didn’t really get to talk to the girls before the light went out and they did’t get to see what I’ve brought back, however as soon as the door shut behind Helen I heard Sascha’s voice, “So been swanking with your flash relative then”.

“I’m not sure what you mean by swanking but I’ve been shopping for new clothes and I’ve had my hair cut and styled”.

“Alright for some”.

“Look, I needed new clothes, what I was wearing were the homes emergency stock. I can afford to buy my own so I should. My cousin helped me pick things because she’s older and understands your fashions. I’ve spent the last few years mostly wearing leather until it got too hot on the voyage and then I was in some things I made myself out of spare canvas sailcloth, even I knew they were scruffy”.

“Bet she’s got you dolled up like the dog’s dinner”.

“If by that you mean smart then yes I think she has. I’m sorry Sacha but I’m in court in a couple of days and I need to look not just acceptable but good for that”.

“S’not what you bought it that you didn’t go and buy it with us. We were looking forward to taking you shopping and no it wouldn’t have been as swanky as where you went but it would have been smart enough”.

“Well I’m sorry, if things go OK at court we can go shopping afterwards. Helen said today was the last day at school for several weeks so we’ll have time surely. I can treat you all”.

“That’s what she really wants to hear” it was Sophie’s voice.

“Shut up you, you won’t say no neither”.

“No I won’t, but I haven’t spent half this evening grumbling that our chances of some freebies has gone”.

“You lying cow I never said that”.

“Come on you two, I don’t want to know and I don’t care. I said if it goes well in court, if it doesn’t then I won’t be here because I’ll get taken off to New Westeros”.

“Yer and then we’re left at the mercy of Ella. Once you’re gone we’re back to her running things”.

“Are you serious about that”.

“Of course, she came round this evening to point out that there would be a price to pay if you go north”.

Oh Marcus forgive me, “Well then you need to stick together, if she hits one of you the other two hit her back as well. She’s big but she can’t fight three of you at once”.

“The trouble is that the first one up is going to get hurt before the others can join in”.

“You’ve all been waterdancing”, it was true even Sascha had joined in after a couple of days “So remember the five star exercise we did”.

“Yes, that was one of the easy ones”.

“It’s meant to be, now imagine that as you get to the star point to your front you’re not touching the kitten you’re punching. That’s all I did to Ella”.

“Seriously”.

“Seriously”.

Funnily it’s Phoebe, not Sascha who seems most determined.

“Stuff it what have we got lose”.

“Teeth, a broken nose”

“Well I still say stuff it, Arya’s no bigger than any of us, if she can do it alone, we can do it together”. 

“Just remember, don’t hit her more than you have to, just enough to stop her” I hope I’m getting this right, but what can I do, I don’t think any of us expect me to be here in a week’s time.


	25. We sow some seeds

So it’s Saturday, there’s no school even if it wasn’t the start of the summer holidays. Sansa came round determined to take me out again, but Helen says she can’t be off site at the weekend so Sansa had to stay with us. This is an education for all parties. The girls treated her like she’s some strange weird animal, she tried to act superior but it didn’t work, they’re in their own environment and they could tell she’s alone and just a bit scared. I learned a lot about how people, well young girls, behave in the Dragon Lands.

Part way through the day Sansa asked why I’m still wearing home cast offs. I hadn’t thought in the morning and just grabbed clean things from my drawer. All the smart new clothes were still under my bed in the bags from the shops. I’m sent upstairs to get them all and then made to change from one set to another while everyone else passed comment. At one point Martin wandered in and is chased out to shouts of “Stop perving” because I’m in my small clothes at this point. By the time I was half way through I was feeling guilty, I’d let Sansa buy me a lot more than I needed. I’d probably got more clothes here than my three roommates put together. There’d been a couple of comments about me having to use space in everyone else’s drawers. So I picked up three sets and threw them at Sascha, Sophie and Phoebe. “Come on you three, get one on each”. I get the responses I expect, I’m getting to know the three of them. Phoebe just said ‘Thank you’ and started putting it on, Sophie tried to say no until I badgered her, then crumbled but took twice as long as the others to get dressed; she’s genuinely shy and tried to hide behind Sascha and I so she wasn’t seen undressed.

Sascha took the bag from me. “Ta, but it won’t fit will it, I’m taller than you, the pants will be half way up my legs”

Sadly it was probably true, she’s a good three inches taller than I am, I was thinking desperately what to do when she came up with the solution herself.

“Couse you could give me the dress, god knows why you wanted it that long, but it would be just right on me”.

Sansa’s not happy with this idea “Now hang on it’s all right her giving you some of the casual stuff but that dress is classy, where are you going to wear it”.

“To the disco tonight”.

That got a chorus of approval, I discovered that tonight we will be treated to the presence of boys from the equivalent home down the road for two hours of dancing and in Sascha’s words “As much as we can get away with quickly before Helen catches us”.

Sansa was even less happy about this, “Then what will Arya wear, you just want to outshine her don’t you”.

Personally I was happy to be outshone, I wasn’t looking forward to some young boy ‘trying it on’ as I’d been warned they were bound to, so the less impressive I looked the better. “I don’t mind and I’m sure she won’t outshine you Sansa, you must have something suitably flashy to wear”.

“Oh I’m not coming”.

There was a mass chorus of “Oh yes you are”, later someone explained pantomime to me and I understand how they were both word perfect and so well timed.

I’m afraid I couldn’t resist “Come on Sansa, you can add a bit of class to the evening, show us all how to behave properly, can’t she girls”. There were one or two comments I won’t repeat but the general opinion is yes and funnily she seemed slightly embarrassed about this.

“Well I’ll have to go back and change; I do have some things at the hotel”.

So that was settled. By this time Sophie, Phoebe and Sascha had changed and the results were good for all of them but Sascha in particular was now glowing. What had been slightly loose and just above the knee on me was just slightly tight on her and came just far enough down to be decent, but left a lot of leg to be admired. Helen came in and tried to put a damper on Sacha’s exuberance by saying she’d have to behave like a lady if she was dressed like one, but it rolled off Sascha like water off a ducks back. I got some more things out and went round the other girls my size. By the time I’d finished the only problem is that Sansa’s green and yellow scheme means we all looked a bit like men in livery, but no one else seemed concerned.

So we sent Sansa home to change and we all went for dinner.

\----------------------------------------------

Sansa arrived back after dinner dressed very smartly or as one of the girls put it ‘Dolled up to the nines’, with a large bag full of strange things to paint and draw on your face and handed them round. Everyone disappeared into bathrooms to use the mirrors. She tried to get me to put some on but I wasn’t keen and we had a bit of a row, apparently I’m ‘no fun’.

The disco was deemed a great success, the boys arrived and had a wow moment when they saw everyone dressed up. Sascha spent the whole night dancing until she came over to me and begged me to ‘keep them off me, I’m knackered’. I noticed she made no attempt to act on her previous comment about doing as much as she could get away with. That mistake appeared to have be made by Sophie, who having gone missing for five minutes came back looking very red faced. Sacha spotted her first and we all moved round in a huddle. Sascha lead the questioning/interrogation

“Are you OK”

“Yeh”.

“You don’t look it, you’re all red faced”.

“Promise you won’t tell”.

“It’s us, roomies right”.

Sophie leans over and whispered in Sascha’s ear.

“So he didn’t do it just said it”.

“God no, we’d been snogging, then he stopped and suggested it”.

“Alright ladies panic over. Soph you’ve got to let a boy suggest a few things, unless of course you want to suggest them first, someone has to make the first move”.

“I couldn’t say that, let alone do it, it’s disgusting”.

“He could have suggested things far more disgusting and painful and dangerous”.

“I didn’t even know you could do that”.

“Well now you do”.

Sophie shivered, I never did get to find out what the act was so I can’t comment on its advisability or severity.

Sansa started out with a bit of ‘this is beneath me' attitude and it was true most of the boys were younger than her and thus shorter, but I noticed as time went by she seemed to forget and just enjoy dancing. The thing that amazed me was what passed for dancing here, no lines, no organisation, some couples but often just bunches of people all jigging about in what seemed a rather aimless fashion, like very low intensity waterdancing. Well I’d never been a great fan of dancing to start with so I stayed well to the side and got through most of the evening watching. Sadly the other three had realised what I was doing. I was approached by a very nervous looking lad, quite tall but very thin.

“Jer wanna dance”

“Sorry but I’d rather not”

“The girl in the tight dress says one of us ‘as to dance wiv yer or she’s not dancing wiv any of us anymore”

I thought ‘Thanks Sascha’ “and you were volunteered by your mates”

“I don’t like dancin’ much either, so they said we’d go well together, come on give it a go…. please”

Well he had said please and he looked very forlorn stood in front of me. “Go on then but just one”, so we moved into a bit of space, still at the side of the room nowhere near the middle and tried my best to copy the others around me. At least the music was loud enough you didn’t have to try and talk because you wouldn’t be heard. I kept going for two tunes and then beckoned him to follow me. We went out of the firedoor and onto the lawn outside. The streetlights were near enough you could see things, but far enough away detail was difficult to make out so I could see several pairs engaged in some sort of activity, but couldn’t make out who was who or quite what they were doing. I wasn’t planning on engaging in activity, I just wanted to get out of the heat so I started to talk as soon as we were out of the doors “What’s your name”

“Steve”

“I’m Arya”

“Yer the one on the TV news the other day aren’tcha, the one who’s come from Westeros”.

“Yes, am I that recognisable”, I’d thought the new hair and clothes would have been a better disguise than that.

“It’s yer name, I’ve never met an Arya before, I think it’s a name yer only get in Westeros”.

Oh well, I’m not changing my name, so let’s keep the subject off Westeros. The trouble is I don’t do chatter, “So why did you get picked on to be the one who had to ask me to dance”.

“’Cos I don’t dance either, I think it’s ‘cos I’ve grown so tall me arms and legs seem to go to the wrong places, it’s made me very clumsy”.

“Well you did alright with me”.

“Ta”.

We stood there looking at each other for a few minutes

“When we go back in can I give yer a quick kiss as we go in the door, as if we’d been snoggin’ outside. It’ll shut all the other boys up if we do, else I’ll get the third degree to check I tried and I’m a bad liar”.

I thought about Sascha’s original claim that she obviously wasn’t acting on and Sophie’s embarrassment; it seemed I was getting off lightly “Go on then”. We gave it another couple of minutes; most of the others seemed to be drifting back inside so we followed on. We’d obviously times it right as the boys were congregating to be shepherded home by their staff. I turned to Steve and stretched up, he bent down and put his arms around me, kissed me and picked me off the ground at the same time. Just for a second I realised he’d also pinned my arms so I was pretty much powerless, then I thought, why am I worrying we’re in view of fifty other kids and half a dozen adults and he can’t move his hands or he’ll drop me so I focused on the actual kiss. Actually it was quite good. I’m hardly a world expert but he seemed to have got the mixture of pressure and movement right. I started to relax and enjoy it when I realised that a large cheer was rising behind me. I saw Steve’s eyes open and then he dropped me and went bright red. I turned round and realised we were the middle of a cheering circle.

I was about to, only I’m not sure what I was going to do, something but I’m still not sure how I’d have reacted, but Helen stepped out of the circle “All right everyone the shows over, off you go lads, we’ll see you next week. Girls upstairs, I’ll give you ten minutes then lights out”.

I turned round again to say something to Steve but he’d gone, lost in the group of boys pushing and shoving out of the door until I saw his head stuck up above everyone else’s, but he wasn’t looking back. Ah well I think I’d had what counted as ‘a good snog’, so I wasn’t complaining. I headed for the stairs and found the other four coming to join me as we went up. We all said goodnight to Sansa and gave her her make-up bag back and she went off to drive home. Before she went she did admit that ‘In a bit of a cheesy way that was fun’, which I think for her was a bit of an admission about a bunch of ‘borderline criminals’. We all went through the nightly ritual, got changed, I now owned PJ’s because it embarrassed Sophie to see me undressed. That had been the most stressful part of the shopping trip, everything was so cute, Sansa back home would have loved them when she was younger, but eventually I found some simple stripes in red and black. Helen came in and turned the light off. The door had barely shut before,

“Aren’t you the dark horse”.

“How far did you let him go”.

“Why did you pick the geeky one”.

“Come on Arya, you can’t just lay there and say nothing, spill the beans”.

Oh what to say, tell them the truth and probably disappoint them, embellish a bit, but how much, I was beginning to realise these girls didn’t have any real sexual experience, with the exception of Sascha who might have had entirely the wrong sort. I could easily go over the top if I started making things up. Then I remembered Sophie whispering in Sascha’s ear, I didn’t know the details, but I knew it was something Sophie had thought was going too far, so “I’m not going into details, but he did nothing I objected to and I enjoyed it and I didn’t pick him he came over and asked so it would have been rude to refuse”. Once I’d said it I realised it was also true, however simple it had been it had been a good kiss and it had been getting better right up to the moment they all started cheering and distracted him.

“Well if you were willing to snog him in front of everyone I reckon he got more than he expected outside in the dark so let’s just hope he’s not a blabberer”.

“Blabberer”.

“Kiss and tell, every detail of what you did round every room at the boys' home by lights out”.

Well that wasn’t a worry unless he started making things up. I thought it was time to change the subject, “Are you OK Soph, your boy, he did just say something, not do anything”.

There was a pause “Yes, I suppose it wasn’t even that naughty an idea, it was more the shock of him just asking straight out and me not having thought you could do that”.

Clearly I still wasn’t going to get the details. “Do I ever get my dress back Sascha or do you want it for keeps”.

“Please can I, it was ace, there was an actual queue at one point”.

“Of course you can”.

“Ta, you’re alright, we’re going to miss you”.

“Well maybe I won’t be going”.

“Nah anything good that happens here only lasts a week and then it goes tit’s up, it’s the story of our lives”.

I wanted to argue but in some ways it applied to me as well, although the girls might not have seen being stuck in the Stark mansion as being that bad. Everything was going quiet when Phoebe spoke up

“Isn’t anyone going to ask me anything”.

Oops Phoebe, always the quiet one who got ignored or left behind “Sorry Phoebes, how was your night”.

“Oh nothing happened I danced a bit with some of the boys but I wasn’t going outside with them”.

“And you want to point this out to us”.

“That’s not the point, I want to be asked, Arya’s the star, we always know what Sophie’s got embarrassed about, and the boys always go wow over Sascha even before she has a flashy dress. I’m just the one who makes up the numbers”.

“Someone has to”

“Sascha that not very kind”

“Well it’s up to Phoebs to do something about it, develop herself in a way that we always think of her first in some situations. Actually Phoebes you’re the brains, let’s face it homework time and we’re all talking to you”.

“Only ‘cos you want the answers instead of working things out yourselves”.

“What’s the point in being clever if you can’t use it for the benefit of others”.

That sort of closed the conversation and we must have all dropped asleep.


	26. Talking is always informative

Sunday got confusing, Marcus came round to try and spend some time with me, partly to plan for Monday and partly I think because he thought we might not see each other for quite a while, Sansa reappeared, which made for a slightly strained atmosphere, while we deliberately didn’t talk about Monday and the girls didn’t want to let me go either. The weather was hot and so we spent most of the afternoon and evening in the garden. By mid-afternoon the mood was taking a downhill slide so I decided to try and help by getting Helen to let me order a load of extra food for dinner. That took some time and then eating it took even more because we hadn’t had time to tell the cooks not to prepare the usual dinner so we were still trying to clean the table as lights out approached.

Looking back some of it was a bit weird, Martin was around somewhere but he was good at being ‘not there’ unless something went wrong and he had to come and help Helen and the other female staff; so Marcus was an old man in the middle of lot of little girls. At first they all avoided him while he and I talked, but slowly the others came to talk to me and then started to talk to him because I couldn’t talk to everyone at once. By the end of the evening he had a circle sitting round him while he told sailing stories.

Sansa really tried to spend the afternoon convincing me everything would be fine with her father, but once in a while she would stop, as though she didn’t quite believe what she was saying. Just before dinner I’d had enough “Please Sansa drop the subject of your dad and the mansion. If he was the nicest man in the world I still wouldn’t want to spend my time there because I want to do what I want not what someone else tells me. You’ve done your best to do the job he sent you over to do, but give it a rest for today please”. She went quiet and I realised in two days she hadn’t really told me anything about herself so, “Besides I want to know more about you, I’ve had two big sister Sansa’s and if I’m honest I saw very little of my real one for several years and I’m not convinced I know her that well so tell me a both more about yourself”.

“I don’t think I’ve got much to tell you, compared with you my life sounds boring, get up, go to school, come home, repeat five times, then at the weekends I go on whatever activity my dad’s arranged for two days. Holidays are more of the weekend in bigger doses”.

“What no boyfriends”.

“You must be joking most of the girls here have done more with a boy than me, Sascha in particular”.

“I don’t think it was a boy with Sascha I think it might have been an adult, maybe even a relative”.

“Oh flip”.

“Yes, oh flip, or other words to that effect; so be careful what you say. But back to you, your dad keeps the boys away then”.

“I’m at an all-girls school we have a disco like last night with the local boys school once a term, so three times a year. Most of my hobbies are carefully organised and I’m chaperoned by one of dad’s chauffeurs a lot of the time. I’m amazed he let me come down here alone, but he though it was important I get to know you so you don’t kick off tomorrow and say you don’t want to come back with us”.

“Well you know the answer to that”.

“Yes, but will you say it in a way that makes it look like I’ve helped make it sound better”.

“I’ll say that you’ve made every effort to make me feel welcome and I’m sure I’d be happy living with you if it wasn’t that I just want to keep travelling. I’ve come thousands of mile and discovered there are thousands more to go round the whole of the Dragon Lands”.

“You really want to go to other countries then”.

“Yes, they aren’t all like here are they”

“No, that’s why I’m not sure you want to go, some of them have some pretty weird ways of behaving”.

“Would I get killed or imprisoned”.

“There’s one or two where you might, in theory every country is a democracy but in some everyone seems to vote for the same person and if you don’t bad things happen to you. We’re all supposed to respect other cultures and races and religions and things but a lot of people don’t really believe that”.

“OK, well clearly I’d need to be careful where I went, but I still want to go. You must travel a bit surely”.

“This is the first time I’ve left New Westeros, it’s two big islands you don’t really need to go anywhere else”.

“Does your dad travel, for his business”.

“Not if he can help it, that’s why we’re rich for New Westeros but we’re not that rich really. He pretty much only does business in New Westeros”.

“So am I going to end up at your school”.

“Probably eventually, but I’ll have left by then, I’ve only got one more year to go before I go to college”.

“Eventually”.

“Well I don’t want to sound rude, but you’ve had hardly any formal education have you so I think daddy’s planning on hiring a private tutor until you catch up”.

“Actually that sounds sensible I probably do have a lot to learn. What sort of things will they be teaching me”.

“Well when you first go to secondary school aged eleven you do English, Maths, Science, Geography, History, Art and design, Citizenship, Computing, Design and Technology, a foreign language, most of us do Kyrotoman since that’s what’s spoken in the Imperial capital; Music and PE.

“PE”

“Sorry, sport, gym”.

“That seems a lot”.

“Some things you only do one lesson, forty minutes a week, others are more, when you get to 15 you cut some out, but if you’re good at science you can split that into three subjects Chemistry Biology and Physics, but that’s for the nerds and geeks who don’t do maths and computing. Then when you get to my age you cut down to three”.

“So what are you still studying”.

“Psychology, Biology and English Literature”.

“So biology’s how plant and animals work inside, English is what I call the common tongue but what’s psychology”

“Put simply how you think and why you think some ways. English literature isn’t just how you speak it’s about interpreting written stories, analysing them and explain your analysis”.

“Oh Marcus would like that one, he’s big on how we all think”.

“Really, he sails a ship”

“Sometimes that gives you time to think a lot, or read, he’s not what I expected when I got on board, but I also know he’s not a normal ship’s master. Maybe if your dad invited him to stay you could talk to him”.

“Not going to happen, daddy doesn’t want you in touch with the crew at all. I’m probably not supposed to tell you that, but what’s he going to do”.

I didn’t have an answer to that so I went back to finding out about Sansa, “So then when you go to, what did you call it”.

“College”.

“What will you study then”.

“I haven’t got a clue which isn’t good because before long I’ve got to start applying. The thing is it doesn’t really matter because I’ll start work at the company as soon as I graduate, get my qualification at college”.

“Don’t you get a choice”.

“Not really I’m the only child so I have to take over the company one day, whether I like it or not”.

“Sounds much like having to inherit a lordship, so things haven’t changed much, except making the girls have babies”.

“Oh my father will expect me to do that too”.

“And you’re going along with all this”.

“I don’t have much choice do I”.

I didn’t answer that one as my answer would be yes and clearly Sansa didn’t agree with me, “So what’s your dads plans for me”.

“Honestly Arya I don’t know, he doesn’t tell me that sort of thing, I get orders not explanations”.

“If you had to guess”.

“Get you to put all your money in the business so we can expand, although I don’t know how”.

“Forget the money I mean me”.

“Well if he adopted you then you’d become his backup plan if something horrible happened to me”.

“Don’t you have any cousins”.

“Several, and my father hates my uncles and aunts so the idea of giving things to them, is I don’t know, I think he’d rather float the company on the stock market”.

“What”.

“Sell if to anyone who’ll buy a bit, most big companies work that way, ours still being entirely in daddy’s hands is pretty unusual”.

I paused while I mentally drew some conclusions. Sansa looked at me and I think she realised she’d said a bit too much.

“Please don’t”

I interrupted her, “I suspect I’ll have very little to say to your father and I’m not going to set out to cause you trouble”.

“You don’t have to try with daddy”.

At this point Marcus appeared

“I’ve been chucked out for the night, which is a shame, some of these kids need a granddad more than you did. I’ve talked to Martin, I’ve got to do things, fill in forms, but he’s going to get me permission to just come round and visit. He thinks I’ll be a, what did he call it, ‘positive role model’. Since you’ll have to go as well Sansa can I have lift, the naval base is on the way to your hotel”.

“Sure, Arya tells me you have opinions on how people think”.

“Oh I have opinions on lots of things, doesn’t mean they’re right mind you”.

“Still it might be interesting to talk”.

I dearly wanted to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, but I knew if Sansa wanted it to be private, Marcus wouldn’t tell me. “Well off you go, I’ll see you both tomorrow in court”.


	27. I'm travelling again

And our negative presumptions were correct; we’re in court nearly all day Monday, everyone going through all the things that we’d discussed. The DNA result is in and I’m very likely to be a direct relative. Their man Sharkey makes no accusations against Marcus or the crew, he’s sure they’ve done their very best to look after me and he’s sure Mr Stark will want to thank them suitably later, but they’re a) all old men, b) not my relatives. The Marcus/Helen plan he dismisses as a ‘novel idea if there were no alternatives’. I can see the look on the judge’s face, we’re losing at every step. Then he really sticks the knife in, he gets all of the crew up as witnesses and they all admit the box is mine. I don’t know whether Marcus didn’t think of this line or they weren’t prepared to lie but by the end of the hearing it’s pretty obvious that all the money is mine.

We pause for a break mid-afternoon, Phoebe comes to see me, several of the girls are in the public gallery above, and cries on my shoulder for the duration, which at least distracts me. Then it’s back in to hear the verdict.

The judge is a tall woman with grey hair in a bun, she sits very upright and doesn’t look in the least bit friendly. “The first part of the case is quite simple. I’m sorry Arya I appreciate you don’t feel like a child, but you’ve come to the Dragon Lands and here that’s what you are considered. Mr Stark will provide a stable and entirely satisfactory home environment; I have no choice but to transfer you to his care”.

I look across to where he’s sitting behind his lawyer, he looks nothing like any Stark I’ve ever met, but he does look a smug bastard, just for a second or two, because the judge continues

Here's wher we went

“In recognition of the unusual nature of this case however this is for the period of six months only, then you will return to court and both parties will discuss progress”. She eyeballs me “And that is not carte blanche for you to make everyone’s life hell for six months in the hope of stopping the arrangement. I’m looking for evidence of your maturity Miss Stark and that means co-operation”.

I look across; he’s already talking to the lawyer who starts to rise and speak but is cut off.

“You made your case Mr Sharkey, this is my ruling not an appeal”

Sharkey sits down fast and turns to mutter to a now worried looking Brandon Stark.

“As a result of the short term nature of the immediate arrangements I cannot allow Mr Stark full and sole control over Miss Starks’s assets. For the present the court will appoint two trustees who will invest the money to generate income to allow Miss Stark to pay off and pension her crew at rates that are reasonable for Megalo Limani, provide Mr Stark with a reasonable care allowance including funds specifically for her education, and Miss Stark a small personal income so that she is not financially dependent for clothing, transport and similar sundries”.

I watch Stark’s face and it gets blacker with each part of the pronouncement. Mine smile by comparison gets wider and wider.

“Finally I have to rule on the issue of Miss Stark’s actual age. I have taken advice and the court deems Miss Stark to be fifteen years old as of today”. She turns and looks at me and smiles, well sort of “At the very worst Arya I’m sentencing you to three years living with a family you don’t much like, but with frankly a better standard of living than I enjoy. If you’re as adult as you claim, you will behave yourself and tick off the days until you are 18 and become an adult”. She looks up at everyone else “Thank you that will be all, I’ll see you all again in six months”.

For some reason the words ‘Keep your nose clean, do your porridge’ come into Arya’s mind, she can’t imagine where from.

Helen and I leave the court, Sansa is waiting outside, she tries to grab me for another ‘Mwah’ session, but I get hold of her hand and start to shake vigourously and she has to stay way. “Look it was always going to happen, and you and I can stick together, it won’t be that bad”.

I realise she actually means this more evidence that her relationship with her father isn’t ideal. “But you’ll be an adult in less than a year”.

“Yes but I can’t leave home until I’ve finished at university and even then there are financial strings. I don’t get any money until my dad dies and that’s not going to happen soon so it will be very hard not to go into the family business”.

Well there’s good news and not so good news, she’ll be around but clearly her father is a control freak so I can see things not going well. Anyway we’re interrupted by the girls from the home who come down and try their best to all cry on my shoulder at once. While this is happening a large man rather ugly man in a uniform, they like their uniforms over here, comes over. He stops about three feet from the gaggle of girls and just stands there. Sansa turns to him “I suppose you’re here with orders to take Arya back immediately”.

“Yes miss”

“Well you’ll have to wait until her friends have said goodbye and then she’ll need to go back to the home for her clothes so go and sit in the car, I’ll bring her out when she’s ready”.

He walks away, I look at her “Parker, our second chauffeur, nice but dim and very nervous around girls. Unless you explicitly contradict my father he’ll pretty much do what you tell him”.

“You have two chauffeurs”.

“No three, one for daddy, one for mummy, but he’s only part time for when daddy and mummy aren’t together and Parker for me and I suppose now you as well. I don’t suppose you’ll get one of your own if daddy isn’t in control of your money”.

“That’s what it’s all about isn’t it, the money”.

Sansa goes quiet. No it’s also about being a control freak; this is not going to end well. I untangle myself and we head outside to the car. It’s huge and I get an idea “How many can you get inside this Parker”.

“Six in the back Ma’am and two more beside me in the front”.

I pick heads, my ex roommates and three of the others who waterdance and we all pile in with Sansa. That only leaves two and Helen says she’ll take them in her car. As I get in last I end up on one of the little seats behind Parker. I strap myself in and twist round “My names Arya Parker, not Ma’am, got that”.

“As you wish Arya”.

“And what’s your first name”.

“I’d rather you stuck with Parker”.

“Parker it is then”.

Sansa gives me a look “Daddy won’t like that he says we shouldn’t get friendly with the servants”.

“I’m not getting friendly, I’m just being polite”.

She says nothing more, but I can see she knows this is going to be an issue. Good it will go down on my new list entitled ‘Bad examples I’m being set by Mr Stark’ for the six month review.

We get back to the home, I refuse to let Parker come in to collect my bags, which he seems quite relieved about, and go to my room. I pick out the two largest bags from my shopping trip and put a reasonable number of sets of clothes in them. This still leaves a large pile “Sacha, you get the black dress, Phoebe. Sophie, take your pick but then share the other stuff out again”. I can see faces light up “And I’m coming back, for a visit in six months and then again later so I’m going to see all of you again”.

“What if we get moved”.

“I’m sure Helen will keep a note for me”.

A last quick round of hugs, Helen gives me a piece of paper and says “Don’t lose that I think you’ll want it” and I’m on my way, which is good because I’m on the edge of crying myself. I’ve lost my crew, but they’re a bunch of old codgers who get on together, they’ll look after each other and the judge says they have to be reasonably paid, which I suspect means enough to avoid the city needing to pay for them, but the girls are different. Even in such a short time it’s obvious all of them need help of some sort and I was starting to make plans for how I could do it. Well those plans are going on hold, but that’s all.

I get out of eh car, Parker takes my bags “Is this all”.

“Yes I like to travel light”, it’s twice the clothing I took onto the Petrel and that was when I still had my court dress. That makes me laugh, which I think Sansa finds strange.

“You seem happy; I thought you’d miss them”.

“I will, the girls and the crew, but there’s no point in complaining, it’s like the weather, it is what it is. I’ve also just had a very silly vision. When I first set off my big sister packed me a box of clothes that included a very big very formal court dress. I got rid of it before we left Westeros, which is good job because I’m imagining me wearing it at the disco and I’d have looked totally stupid”.

“What did it look like”.

“The bodice had long very full puffed sleeves, and was boned to lift your boobs so you don’t need a bra. Then the skirt would be on a frame of light wood canes that made it several feet wide”.

“I’ve seen pictures of things like that in history books from five hundred years ago, they look painful up top and the must weigh a ton”.

“Corsets aren’t that painful if they fit properly, but you do breathe in a particular way by lifting your chest so your boobs go up and down, which is the point as they’re pretty much on display. They are heavy though”.

“Could you, you know pop out”.

“Well I couldn’t, not enough there, but I remember my mum talking about an aunt who famously had in her youth. But it’s all so different, you show your legs off in ways that even I feel uncomfortable doing and my wearing breeches was considered very improper”.

“Weird”.

“Well just very different. I’ll get used to bare legs, I got used to breeches, I wasn’t brought up to wear them”.

“Why did you start”

“I was running away and wanted to pretend to be a boy to make it harder to find me”. 

“Why were you running away, was your dad that bad. I mean mines on fun but I’d not run away”.

“My dad was executed as a traitor and I knew the charges were false and it was just an excuse to kill him so they were after me to kill me and stop me telling anyone”.

“You’re joking”.

“No”.

“Shit, how did you cope with something like that”.

“You just do, one day after another”.

“I couldn’t”.

“You might surprise yourself if you had to. My sister was a really soft fluffy little girl, all romantic ideas and sweet singing, then she was badly treated and she survived, but she became a very hard woman”. Sansa went very quiet so we sat in silence until we reached the airport.

Parker drops us all off then goes to return the car. It’s only on hire but it’s the same as they have at home. By the time we’re waiting to get on the plane he’s back with us. Sansa and I get on board, Parker gets left behind. I’m beginning to get the hang of things “Parker will have to sit in the cheap seats”.

“Well cheaper, but he’s in business which is pretty good for a chauffeur. Daddy thinks it creates a good impression if your staff travel business not cattle class”.

“If I went back to talk to him during the flight”.

“He’d be embarrassed and want you to go away”.

“Honestly”

“Yes”.

I settle myself in, only one little strap across my lap, not the five in the helicopter, still I don’t suppose we’ll be turned sideways with the door open. The staff go through a safety briefing, Sansa mutters in my ear “Not that it does any good if you fall 10,000 feet”, which I wished she hadn’t, the idea of flying is actually making me quite nervous. Everything in aeroplanes is noisy compared with travelling on land or by sea and it’s also obvious that we are going to be going a lot faster and I’ve only just got used to the speed of cars.

Funnily once we’re in the air it all calms down, we must be going very fast, but because you can’t really see much from this height it doesn’t feel like it. It’s after dinner time but they bring some food round, it’s really quite good given that cooking it must be tricky. After that Sansa finds us something to watch on the little screens in the seat backs for a couple of hours, it’s a film called “How to train your dragon: The hidden world”, I quite quickly realise this is not how Daenerys trained Drogon; in fact I get the impression these people don’t think dragons really exist. After that we try to go to sleep, we’ve another six hours in the air and we’ll arrive in the early morning so we need to but I don’t manage to do more than cat nap. As a result when we get out of the plane with the sun well up in the sky because we’ve travelled north, I’m still tired and getting a bit crabby.

Parker leaves us in a smart lounge and says to wait fifteen minutes before going outside. We do but he’s not there when we get out so we stand around a bit, then the big car comes round, in we get and off we go. Next stop New Winterfell, oh yes this family has as much inventiveness the naming of its homes as of its children.

\---------------------------------------

Here's where we went

The scale on this map is from https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Known_world for consistency


	28. New Winterfell

The house came into sight, or at least the roof did. It’s clearly a modern property built a bit like the Dorchester Hotel but mostly only on two levels, “So it’s called Winterfell but it isn’t a castle then”.

“That’s back on a hill near the coast, I’ll take you for a look round, but it fell down a couple of hundred years ago and the family moved into a large house, then into this about seventyfive years ago. We can go and look at the old house too; it’s open to the public as tourist attraction”.

“Sorry tourist attraction”.

“Tourists, people who are travelling to look at things for the fun of it, tourist attraction, one of the places they come to see, could be spectacular nature or something that’s been built”.

“So that makes me a tourist then”.

“I suppose it does in a way”.

It also made the point again that I had so much to learn over here. I didn’t really speak the language because they had so many things and ideas that we didn’t. I was sure it would work the other way round, but Sansa wasn’t in Westeros. The car reached the front doors of the house. A woman was waiting there, clearly Sansa’s mother, she was wearing very little clothing, which seems odd and she was clearly waiting for us by the side of another equally large car. We came to a stop and Sansa opened the door and got out.

“Sansa Stark how often do I have to tell you, wait for Parker to open the door, we don’t have servants to do their work for them”.

“Sorry mummy” Sansa walked up to her mother and they did the Mwah act.

I followed on hand firmly extended to be shaken, it was ignored.

“Ah you must be Arya, well ‘pleased to meet you’ as they say, now I must go, tennis club and I’m running late”.

With this statement she got into the open door of the car, the chauffeur closed it, got in and drove off. 

I looked at Sansa who actually looked embarrassed, “Sorry about that, mummy has her schedule and she doesn’t like it to be disturbed. Don’t worry I’m here to look after you and actually I think it’s going to be fun. I’m going to take you to all sorts of places that would normally bore me stiff, but because I know they’ll be new to you it will be nice to explain everything”.

“I suspect you’ll get bored of the explanations when I ask such silly questions, like what’s a tennis club, presumably this club isn’t something you hit people with”.

Sansa giggled “No, tennis is a game between two or four people, usually four for mummy so she can play mixed doubles, she’s keen on mixed doubles. You hit a small ball with a racquet, I’m not going to describe a racquet I’ll just show you one. A club is a group of people who all want to play tennis, or some other sport, who get together to have a building and the place to play all set out for them. Actually we have a tennis court here, but mummy seems to prefer to play at the club, I can’t imagine why”.

We went into the house and Sansa showed me round. I had to admit to myself it was impressive, there’s a lot of glass so it’s so much lighter than any building in Westeros. There are four different solars, some with specific purposes, a library full of books, a billiard room with a large table in the middle to play billiards on. Apparently this is a hangover from older times as it isn’t used any more, one room’s specifically for dining, another big table and then there’s the drawing room for just sitting in. This room opens onto another room entirely of glass and partly full of plants in pots that looks out over a large area of very formal looking gardens, everything in rows and squares.

Upstairs there are 8 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, so I get my own room and in practice the next door bathroom won’t be used by anyone else either. I noticed that this was because I’m at the opposite end of the corridor from everyone else, but the room is bigger than the four of us were sharing at the home and has a great view of some hills in the distance. The bathroom is even better, Sansa said it’s not been modernised as though that’s a problem, but the shower is a fitment on the bath that sprays you not just from the top but the sides as well. I’d taken to showers and this one is the best I’d ever seen. I was then given some strict admonition about the ‘Loo’; firstly it’s the loo not the toilet, which is a common term and will upset mummy. Secondly because it’s unmodernised the water comes from a box well above head height so you pull a handle connected to a chain to flush. The result of this is a lot of noise, so I am not under any circumstances to flush it at night as it will wake the whole house. When I comment that this seems a bit of a bad habit Sansa Says “Well do it once and when Mummy's finished ranting it will be time for breakfast and you’ll learn”.

This comment reminded us both we hadn’t eaten that morning so we returned to the dining room and Sansa rang a bell, which generated an elderly lady who organised breakfast. Sansa had a small pastry called a croissant, as at the home I had what the elderly lady, called Roberts, told me is known as a ‘Full Mushu’. We sat down and started eating and a thought occurred to me. “Your father didn’t fly home with us”.

“No, daddy won’t fly in the same plane as me in case of an accident, he’s coming back later today. I think he was planning on having to make financial arrangements, but that plans gone to the dogs. Even when he gets back you won’t see much of him. We’re pretty well on our own for the school holidays, so the next six weeks”.

“You said about falling from 10,000 feet when we were on the plane, you make it sound like they’re not safe”.

“They’re actually very safe, things almost never go wrong, we’re in a lot more danger in the car; it’s just that if they do go wrong it’s usually terminal for all concerned”.

I was thinking ‘you’re safer on a ship’, but then I remembered the storm, which nearly killed all of us. 

After breakfast we were both feeling tired so Sansa announced we would ‘slob out by the pool’. This however required we have swimwear and of course I haven’t, but Sansa was sure she could find something of hers that she could make work, so up we went to her bedroom. She opened a drawer and threw a handful of things on her bed. “Strip off then” she paused “You’re OK with that aren’t you, there aren’t social taboos; I mean we’re both young girls”.

I started to undress, “Yes I’m fine with undressing it’s just how little there is there when I come to putting it on, but I suppose if we’re in your garden and no outsiders can see us”.

“Well if we go down to the beach we’ll be in public and we’ll still be wearing it”.

“And we’ll be OK like that”.

“If we were literally two little girls on our own, maybe we’d be taking a bit of a chance, but we’ll have Parker with us”.

“So he’s security as well as chauffeur”.

“Sort of but not seriously, even if it were just my mum we’d be OK. Here try those”.

I picked up the small clothes she’d thrown to my end of the bed. Describing it as clothes was pushing it a bit, it was a rectangle of cloth that’s slightly waisted to be thinner in the middle with four strings attached. I tied two of the strings to make a leg hole and put my leg through then tied the other two the other side. The effect was a bit lopsided so I retied things until it was better balanced. Well it covered the absolutely minimum, but that was about it. I’d not considered myself shy until that point, but this did seem very minimalist. “Have you got anything that covers just a bit more flesh”.

“’Fraid not, I had a throw away session in the spring and chucked out my swimsuits from when I was your age. Look if you’re really embarrassed we’ll do something else, or stay out of the pool”.

“No, I’ll get used to it”, I was looking at the top, two triangles a loop and two strings to go round the back “Can you tie me into this bit”.

“Sure, turn round”.

I did and Sansa tied me in, turned me round to look at me. “You’re right about saying you’ve lead an active life. You may be tiny but there’s muscles on your muscles. There’s people at gyms who’d kill for your body, oh god but are those scars”.

For some reason my immediate thought was ‘I’ve known people want to kill my body, but not to kill for it’. We were in the same but different language area again. “Yes and just for now don’t ask, I’ll tell you another day”. Sansa accepted this which was a pleasant surprise and got herself into a near identical pair of “What do you call these”

“This is a bikini” she gave me another hard look and then started to whisper “Look I don’t want to be culturally imperialist or anything and I’m not being bitchy but you really are going to tidy things up a bit, you know, down there” and she nodded downwards.

I look downward, there are one or two hairs visible, but I’m having to look hard to see them, “So that’s important is it, all the bare flesh is OK but a visible hair isn’t. OK well if it upsets you I’ll get back into my normal clothes”.

“No, I can ignore it, I think, well I’m going to ignore it, but before my friends come round we need to do something or some of them will freak out. I’m afraid they can be bitchy, it’s all about looking the best in front of the boys. Come on” and she leads me out of her bedroom.

I keep talking as we walk “So despite all the modern things the girls still want to catch the best boy, which I’m guessing is a combination of well-built, rich and powerful”.

“Pretty much”.

“But you don’t need to; you can get jobs of your own; you’re going to inherit all your father’s money”.

“And some of my friends say I’m lazy because of that. It doesn’t matter how rich you are you can always get richer by marrying the right man. Daddy will want me to pick someone from a business family that will fit with ours”.

“So nothings really changed from us being married off to other Lords for political alliances, the only difference is now it’s money that matters”.

“Well maybe I’m misunderstanding but I get to pick the boy I want, he and I have to make it work, there’s no being told ‘Marry him’. I just know I need to marry the right sort of boy. I mean back home you wouldn’t have married some sort of peasant would you”.

A certain blacksmith came to mind, “I didn’t want to marry anyone, I’m not into babies and running a house”.

“Neither is my mother, she popped me out and said ‘Never again’ and the servants look after me, she doesn’t, thank god”.

I felt I was heading into an area I didn’t want to ask about, Sansa’s voice was rising in tone, she was clearly getting emotionally involved. So clearly it was time to change the subject “No one’s had time to tell me how your mum can do that, just have one baby”.

“Oh, the ‘Facts of Life’ speech” and she laughed “Your mum’s supposed to give you that before your first monthly so you don’t panic”.

I nearly said ‘My mum was dead by then’, but didn’t. Increasingly I wanted to bury what happened in Westeros because these people can’t understand so instead I said “Mum wasn’t around so can you play mum for me”. She looks worried.

“Really, you want me to tell you everything, all the icky bits and so on and the biology”.

Clearly this wasn’t on her list of fun things to do today so I offered her a get out, “Well my question was just about not having babies. Back at the home one of the girls said the government would start putting something in the water to stop it happening soon. No one took her seriously, but clearly you have things we don’t so all I want is a quick simple update. It doesn’t need to be detailed I’m not going to be doing anything for years yet am I”. We’d reached the pool and sat down on two reclining benches, sort of a hammock on a frame and legs. The sun was out and it was actually getting quite warm as we were out of the wind.

“OK, but first we need to put sunscreen on, otherwise we get damaged skin and a thing called cancer that can kill you”. She offed me a bottle she’d brought with her “Squeeze some on your hands and rub it in, you’ll still tan, go brown, but it won’t be dangerous. Here put a big squirt in my hands and I’ll do your back”.

I did as I was told and then helped Sansa as she covered herself. Clearly she regularly did this as the pale bits of her body match her bikini and the rest is an even brown. I on the other hand was a mixture of dark brown face, hands, lower arms and legs that faded about where the ends of my canvas clothing had been and a very white body and upper limbs. We settled back, Sansa didn’t seem keen to return to the ‘no babies’ subject as she started to talk about one of her friends, Meera who had gone to Kyrotome for the summer and was sending her e-mails back about all the things she’s seeing. I listened for a while gently falling asleep.

\------------------------------

When I wake up Roberts is stood in front of us and she and Sansa are discussing lunch. Then Bran appears “I thought I’d find you idling away your time here. Weren’t you supposed to be playing tennis with your mother this morning”.

“She stayed around just long enough to admit Arya exists and then shot off. We’d flown overnight and needed breakfast and a rest”.

“Well you can make yourself useful then helping Arya’s tutor set up the classroom”.

“Classroom”.

“Yes, she’s far too backward to be let into a normal school so she’s going to get a tutor at home until she’s caught up, if she can”.

‘Bite your tongue Arya, let the water flow under the prow and the rain run into the scuppers’, I kept repeating these versions of Marcus ‘learn to live with it’ mantra in my head and said nothing. It sounded like I didn’t need to Sansa was going to complain on my behalf.

“But daddy it’s the school holidays, you can’t make Arya start now”.

“If I don’t achieve an improvement in six months that bloody judge will say I’m not looking after her adequately and you’ve got things organised which there is no way I’m letting Arya go to until she can sound like a civilised member of this family and not babble medieval garbage and ask stupid questions”.

Now that was the limit; I was quoting Marcus verbatim “A very good friend of mine once told me the only stupid question is not asking the question, otherwise how do you learn”.

“You keep your mouth shut so you don’t look like a fool and come home and look it up on the internet or ask your tutor”.

“So it’s about appearances”.

“Of course; by the Old Gods you really are stupid, everything’s about appearances, the world runs on appearances. Make a good impression and you can get anything, sound plausible even if you’re talking complete rubbish and enough fools will believe you”.

Well that put me in my place and very neatly summarised Bran Stark’s approach to life. I didn’t ask him if he’d treated the judge that way, I thought I’d leave that for another six months’ time.

Lunch was a subdued affair, Bran insisted we came into the house, got properly dressed to sit at a table and ate with him. Sansa went completely quiet, I wouldn’t say it was a sulk, she replied to her father’s comments politely, but it was like a light had been turned off.


	29. The Start of my education [that’s the formal one with exams]

After lunch my tutor arrived, she was a rather plain young woman called Talisa, obviously only a few years older than Sansa. Bran had clearly briefed her in advance so he did no more than acknowledge her arrival before disappearing. As he went out of the door Parker came in and spoke to her. “As instructed I’ve put all the materials in the bedroom next to Miss Arya’s, is there anything else Ma’am”.

She seemed surprised to be addressed in this way and it was Sansa who replied “Do you have anything else to do this afternoon Parker”.

“No Miss”.

“Then you can come back up with us in case we need any heavy lifting”.

“Very well miss”, his face said ‘There goes a lazy afternoon’.

We went upstairs and found a pile of boxes. Talisa went “Oh” as thought this wasn’t what she’d expected.

Parker’s voice had the resigned tone of a man who knew what came next, “Suppose you leave me to put the flat pack together and get the computer wired up and then I’ll find come and let you know you can start”.

Sansa was suddenly all enthusiasm “Good idea Parker, we’ll be next door in Arya’s room when you’ve finished”. She shooed us out of the door and then put her finger to her lips and pointed down the corridor away from my room and towards hers. When she had us all in her room she went back into the same drawer as this morning and threw another bikini as Talisa. “Get that on Talisa. See Arya I told you to keep your bikini on and just put clothes over the top, get them off and we can get down to the pool. It’ll take Parker at least an hour do the work and then a while to find us, he knows I won’t thank him if he rushes so we’ve probably got a couple of hours in the sun”. Suiting actions to words Sansa was already half undressed. Alisa looked at me, I shrugged and started to take my clothes off so she followed our example and ten minutes later we were all sat round the pool again. I couldn’t help noticing that Talisa’s body was even less used to the sun than mine, even her face and hands were quite pale and her body was so white as to count as ghostly.

Sansa’s intention was clearly to just to lie there but I wanted to know things and Talisa looked like she felt she ought to be talking to me so I started the conversation “So Talisa are you a regular teacher in a school”.

“Oh no I’m a post graduate studying for my doctorate and doing some tutoring to avoid getting into debt”.

“Right, now start again and talk to a girl from Westeros who doesn’t know what any of those technical terms mean”.

And she did. It soon became obvious Talisa was a very clever, although she denied it when I said so, and she quickly got into the habit of using a word and then defining it as she went along. You don’t need the detail, it would make boring reading, but after an hour or two I knew all about, the various levels of education from ‘O’ levels to Doctorates, the national curriculum for schools; that Talisa was studying Ty particles in yeast cells and what that meant, well roughly. How she proposed to teach me, we were going to do web based interactive learning so she could set me some work from her laboratory and then get on with her doctoral research while I did the work. This did mean, and she was clearly trying to sound authoritarian as she said this, “You have to be committed to doing the work Arya. I’m not going to be here to stand over you, I don’t have the time, so in the end it’s up to you, if you want to learn you’ll learn if you want to muck about you won’t and I’m afraid I have to do a report at the end of six months on your progress and I’m not lying on the report so if you’ve wasted your time I shall say so”. I duly promised to do my best, I’m fairly sure I heard a cough from Sansa at this point, and then Parker appeared.

“Sorry I took a bit longer than you thought I might and of course it took me ages to work out where you’d gone, but Mr Stark’s noticed your absence so you need to get back upstairs and look like you’re busy fairly soon”.

He delivered this little speech with a dead pan face so at the time I wasn’t sure the exact meaning, but when I got to know him I realised what he meant was ‘I’ve covered for you as much as I can so it’s time to knuckle under and do as you’re told’.

Sansa certainly understood him, as she was suddenly wide awake and we all ran back upstairs.

The room had been transformed; Talisa took me round explaining as she went. I had a computer station, a desk to write at, a laboratory bench. a set of shelves full of box files to put my written work in and all the pens, paper and bits and pieces I might need. The walls were covered with large coloured printed sheets. One was obviously a map of the world; the others had all sort of interesting looking pictures on them with words underneath. Talisa had explained that when we got to science practicals, she would have to be present for safety reasons and to minimise the risk she would bring all chemicals with here so that “I don’t have to worry about you blowing yourself up or poisoning yourself while I’m not around”. I didn’t enlighten her that I’d already seen a couple of plants in the garden that I could use to wipe out the whole house at one meal. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening getting me used to the computer. At the end of which I had an e-mail account set up and had practiced Skyping and Zooming with Sansa down the corridor so I could do it with Talisa tomorrow for my first lessons. Somewhere in this process I remember saying to them “Do they have e-mail and so on in Megalo Limani” and them laughing and saying of course they did and then I was desperately thinking, where had I put that piece of paper Helen gave me.

So after Talisa had gone home and we’d eaten dinner, all very formal no bikinis, proper clothes, or at least ‘as proper as you’ve got’, arrogant ****, no one really speaking just eating and leaving after the last course; I went up to my room and dug through my clothes, nothing. Sansa came in, what were we doing for the evening; clearly we weren’t doing anything with her parents.

“Well, first thing I’m looking for a piece of paper Helen gave me that I’ve lost”.

“What was on it”.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell her “Nothing”.

“Come on Arya, if it was nothing you wouldn’t be looking for it. It was e-mail addresses wasn’t it and you didn’t realise, but now you want to find it to get back in touch with them”.

“Yes, why shouldn’t I”.

“Well that depends on who you’re asking. I think it’s a great idea, but I wouldn’t tell daddy because he won’t want you to talk to them. He says he’s ‘just a bit over protective’ about his darling daughter, but in reality he hates the idea of anyone doing something he isn’t in control of. If you want my advice you’ll set up two e-mail addresses one you can let him see when he asks so he doesn’t flip and freak out and another to talk to your friends back in M-L. Use the one you set up with Talisa as your public one, just in case she’s spying on you for him, and open another to talk to Marcus and Helen. I doubt the home lets the girls have their own e-mail addresses but I’m sure Helen will pass things on”.

\-----------------------------

I’m going to come back to my e-mails later, for now my education was the subject of importance to everyone, to be honest including me. I’d realised that so much was different here and I wanted to change that. That first night I started reading the posters on the walls, Sansa soon got bored with that and went back to her room to watch TV. The world map was interesting. The Dragon Lands were mapped in detail, but Westeros and Braavos and Essos were far vaguer, there was geography like mountains and rivers and cities, but the cities had no names and there were no national boundaries as on the Dragon Lands section. South of the Equator it was the same, and very few cities marked, either there aren’t many people down there or the satellites don’t go over them. So once I was out of here, at the very worst in three years’ time I didn’t have to go home I could go south, or maybe that was banned as well. Still it was something to think about.

\-------------------------------

Much to Sansa obvious disappointment and annoyance she was sent off to play tennis with her mother and immediately after breakfast Talisa was on the computer with a series of test for me to do. Some of these were simple list of questions about different subjects that I recognised as begin the parts of the National Curriculum we’d discussed the day before. They served very well to show that I had a lot to learn. Others were more interesting, testing my ability to remember things, rearrange shapes, recognise shapes that were the same but turned round, fit faces to each other. When I’d finished this test it actually showed me a picture of all my results as a potential circle with a line showing an average. I was rather pleased to see I was rather good at most of the tests, not so hot at the word ones. The one big bad score was my ability to match the faces. The testing had taken most of the morning. After lunch Talisa offered me a choice, I could have the afternoon off and work the evening, or keep going through the afternoon and have the evening off.

The tests had been hard work and I wasn’t learning anything new so I opted for the afternoon off and work that evening. Talisa seems pleased by this as she said she wanted to have someone else look at my results and also we were going to do some simple reading together.

So I had the afternoon off. I could go and laze by the pool, it was hot enough, but I’m not a lay around person, what else was there and who would know. I set off in search of other people. This was actually difficult as the servant had a separate building and didn’t just hang around the house, but eventually I found Parker polishing one of the cars.

“Parker, I know this is going to sound very little girlish, but I can see an afternoon of boredom ahead of me unless someone gives me some advice”.

“Half a day of studying and you know everything there is to know then”.

“No, but I’ve been given the afternoon off because I’m going to study in the evening”.

“And you’ve exhausted the internet”.

“No, Talisa made it quite plain you can’t exhaust the internet, but I’m talking about doing not sitting”.

“Ah what my granny use to call a ‘brivity bottom’”.

“Pardon”.

“Someone who can’t sit still”.

“That’s me”

“Well of course I could be idle and say polish the car, but if the boss caught you I’d get it in the neck as well”.

“I could do it, I had to polish the ships bell every day for several months, the car’s a bit bigger but I wouldn’t have anything else to do”.

“No like I said, the boss wouldn’t like it. The other two are playing tennis, I could take you down to the club, if you were interested someone will lend you a racquet and let you bang a ball about”.

“Do they play tennis a lot”.

“Mrs Starks down there most days, very keen on mixed doubles. Sansa’s not so keen but Mr Stark sends her down to keep her mother company”.

And so we went to the New Westeros Tennis Club. I was admitted on Parker’s assurance that I was with Mrs Stark and we found Sansa lounging on a balcony overlooking a court on which her mother and three others were playing. We said Hello, parker returned to the car and Sansa explained the rules. It didn’t seem that complex, being small I was going to be at a disadvantage however skilled I became, but it seemed worth a go so “Sansa, is there somewhere you and I can go and you can show me how to hold the racquet and hit the ball”.

“Why not, I’m sick of sitting here watching”.

“Don’t you play with your mum”.

“Oh no she has regular partners, I’m just here to watch, so stuff it come on” and she lead me down to the ladies changing room, where we took two racquets and a handful of balls from a kit bag, then went out onto a court no one was using. We started juts knocking the ball back and forth, but as I got more confident I started to hit it a bit harder and run faster to retrieve Sansa’s returns. Eventually Sansa called a halt and to be honest I was ready for a pause. We went back to the changing room and showered. I had to put my somewhat smelly clothes back on because I hadn’t thought to bring a change, but that didn’t bother me. Then we went back onto the balcony and Sansa was clearly looking for her mother.

“Can you see her”.

“No”.

Sansa shrugged her shoulders “Well I’m not her minder, regardless of what my father thinks, come on” and we went back outside, found Parker and went back to the house.

Dinner was a very strained atmosphere and I was glad to get up to my study room and get in touch with Talisa.

“Hi Arya, honesty time here did you have any help with those tests”.

“No!”

“OK, well then you did very well, very well indeed. I’m going to have to talk to your father”.

“He’s not my father, not even close so please don’t call him that”.

“Oh sorry, well to Mr Stark then, I want you to go and see a couple of people, talk to them more than take tests”.

“OK, but can I ask why”.

“At this point I want other people to talk to you first; I may be jumping to conclusions and I don’t want to say something to you only for the real experts to tell me I’m wrong”.

“Ok then, whatever you think”.

“Thank you now then the history of the last war between the Unite Nations of the Dragon Lands and the People’s Democratic Socialist Soviet Republics commonly called the Chersky Pact……………”.

You don’t need the details so we can skip to next morning at the breakfast table.

“Good morning Mrs Stark, Mr Stark”.

“Good Morning Arya, I’ve had a strange e-mail from your tutor, she wants you to go and see two Professors at the University. Do you have any idea why”.

“She said my test results were rather good, but wouldn’t elaborate”.

“Have you expressed any specific interest in Psychiatry or Philosophy”.

“No”.

“I hope I haven’t hired the wrong girl to tutor you, does she seem OK”.

“We’re getting on very well, she’s making learning fun”.

“Oh Well I suppose I’d better let you go, just try not to make a fool of yourself”.


	30. Interesting Questions

And thus a day or two later I met Talisa at the front of the Dept. of Psychiatry and we went in and found Professor Tarly. He’s a small man, with glasses that he perches on the end of his nose and looks over at you.

“Ah Miss Stark, is that an acceptable form of address”

“I prefer Arya Professor”

“Arya it is and I prefer Hulk, but sadly my name is Robin so that will have to do”.

I laughed; it was such a stupid thing to say. He didn’t comment on my laughing but just pointed at a seat and sat down opposite me. Talisa left, “Is this an interview Robin, or an interrogation”.

“It’s whatever you think it is Arya after all it’s for your benefit”.

“OK, well then I’d like to know why it’s for my benefit”.

“Suppose I said I didn’t want to tell you yet, because it would, let’s say, influence the result”.

“So I’m being tested”.

“If you want to see it that way, then yes”.

We kept on talking bouncing what seemed like silly questions off each other. I can’t even remember most of them. After about an hour he stood up, “Well thank you very much Arya, that may have seemed a little strange, but it’s been most informative”.

“Do I get to know the final conclusion”.

“I really need to discuss it with Mr Stark and then with you”.

“Is this the ‘You’re a minor’ thing again, that really irritates me”.

“Yes I would imagine it does for all sorts of reasons, but I’m afraid we all have to stick to the rules don’t we”. I didn’t answer immediately and he answered himself “Yes we do” and showed me out. Talisa was waiting outside the door.

“Have you been there all the time”.

“No I nipped back to my lab and got a bit of work in, one more southern blot running”

“That’s the one for DNA right”

“Yes”

“Would that have been how they worked out I’m related to Mr Stark”.

“That would be one of the methods used yes. Right next stop Professor Payne”.

Talk about chalk and cheese, Professor Payne, I never did find his first name and he seemed unconcerned with mine, was a mountain of a man, Sandor’s size, only older so he had run to fat a bit

“So Miss Stark, you’ve had no real formal education”

“Not by your standards, my mother wanted me to learn how to be a lady and run a household, I wanted to learn how to ride and fight. Then I stopped formal schooling early”.

“How early”.

“About nine”. This got me a set of raised eyebrows, oh I have to mention the eyebrows, they made mine look like they were drawn on with a thin pencil.

“And that was it”

“Well I’ve spent four months on a ship with a slightly odd skipper. He knows a lot more than just how to sail ships so we talked about things”.

“What sort of things”.

“Mostly how people behave”.

“If I said ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’, how would respond”.

“I don’t know I’d have to think about that”.

“Go ahead I’m not timing you”

“Well exactly what do you mean by unexamined, in particular examined by who”.

“I’m not sure I know, I think you have to decide that for yourself”.

“Well one interpretation could be that if you don’t think about how you live our own life you’re just like an animal, working on instinct”.

“Under that interpretation are you living a worthwhile life”.

“I might not have been but I believe talking to Marcus means I am now, well sometimes”.

“Marcus was the ship’s captain”

“Yes” no point in splitting hairs with this man about captains and masters. or I was quite sure we’d spend half an hour discussing the point.

“Do you believe in cause and effect”.

“Yes it’s hard not to”.

“Because”.

“Well it’s in your face every day”.

“And everything always happens the way it should, the way it has previously, the way it will every time”.

“Well no”.

“Why not”.

“There could be lots of reasons” he raised those eyebrows again, clearly he wanted my list “Well some things aren’t predictable, like the weather, you see big black clouds you expect it to rain, but it doesn’t every time”.

“Why not”

“I don’t know, I’m not sure anyone does, there are some things no one understands”.

“So if I said everything you know is only everything you think you know because you can never know everything there is to know”.

“Then I’d say you’re right but it’s a useless conclusion, the ships master can’t know everything that might be going to happen to his ship, but he still has to give orders on how to sail the ship on the assumption he's right, or not right but as right as he can be”.

“And do you live your life like that”.

“I certainly didn’t, maybe I might to try to more now”.

We kept on for about an hour, then he got up and motioned me towards the door “Here’s a final thought, if anyone tells you you’re an idiot, just remember that they might not understand how clever you are, but of course they might also be right. Thank you for coming Miss Stark, sadly I retire shortly so I shall not have the pleasure of lecturing to you if you decide to read philosophy”.

And I was back outside with Talisa.

“What was that all about”.

“I’ll tell you this evening I’m coming to see Mr Stark and we can all discuss it”.

\--------------------------------------------------------

“She’s what”.

“Extremely intelligent, borderline genius”.

“No the other bit”.

“Moderately autistic”.

“Which is one of you clever people’s ways of saying whacko”.

“No Mr Stark autistic people just think a bit differently from the rest of us and sometimes, as in Arya’s case that can make them highly intelligent, but yes occasionally a bit difficult to get on with”.

“I told you bringing her here would be nothing but trouble, well now you’re stuck with her, no one wants whacko’s” and with this pronouncement Mrs Stark left. I couldn’t help thinking that was probably the longest sentence about me she’d uttered about me or to me in the time I’d been at Winterfell.

“So I suppose now you’re going to give me a long list of things I have to do specially for her”.

“Not really, she’s learning quite well, I’m perfectly happy to keep teaching her and other than that it’s just maybe a case of being a bit tolerant”.

Sansa looked across at me and rolled her eyes.

“And do people have to know about this”.

“I’d say that’s largely up to Arya and if she feels the need to tell them”.

He turned to me “Least said then Arya, avoids people jumping to the wrong conclusions”.

I said nothing, I couldn’t help thinking about Prof Payne’s comments about what we thought we knew.

\-----------------------------

“Time flies bye when you’re the driver of a train”, it’s the first line from a song in a children’s television programme here. Sansa remembered it from when she was younger one day and we both watched several episodes one evening, a bit of escapism if you were analysing it which I’m starting to do, that Socrates bloke can get in your head. Time also flew by for me, Talisa kept me busy, I think once she’d decided I was clever she felt she had to in her own words to ‘stretch me’. I thought it just meant more work. So for the rest of my first six months I worked very hard and not much got to interfere. Septa Mordane would at last have been proud of me, except that I was still no good at music or sewing, which was just a small bit of Design and Technology so no one seemed to think it mattered. I’m also no good at blacksmithing or metalwork as they call it here. Sorry Gendry; but it’s interesting that girls get to have a go at school, just as the boys get to doing a bit of sewing. I had fun imagining Jon and Joffrey and Sandor sewing, until I realised how much I miss Jon and Sandor.


	31. Gone but not forgotten

So while I’m swotting away in Winterfell lets go back to Marcus and my new friends in Megalo Limani or M-L as everyone shortens it to. I managed to find the bit of paper. Fortunately Ella who does our laundry is familiar with the idea of things left in pockets by mistake and always checks and collects them. Her little whimsy is to wait until you come and ask for them and then make you explain what they are. This is apparently to try and discourage us from leaving anything indiscreet so she doesn’t have to decide whether to tell anyone else what she’s found.

Contrary to Sansa’s predictions Bran seems to take little interest in my e-mail account or my use of Skype or Zoom, an error on his part in so many ways.

“He trusts you, but he doesn’t trust me, his own daughter”, Sansa is close to tears

“An alternative is he cares about you and he doesn’t care about me”.

“He doesn’t care about anybody but himself and his precious family reputation”.

I found this hard to argue with, so I changed the subject “So are you stopping to find out what they’ve been up to or not”.

“Of course I’m stopping”.

“Good, then sit down next to me so we’re both on camera”.

I thought that the call was between Helen, Sascha and I so the first surprise was the sight of Marcus with Sascha crammed next to him.

“So you two are regular friends now”.

“He’s my new grandad, the one I can trust”.

“I didn’t think this would be your idea of retirement”.

“I get bored easily, and we only live round the corner. We’ve been pensioned off with almost exactly the right amount of money to stop us claiming anything from the state, we’re OK, but we’ve had to club together to buy two houses and split them between us. I get my own bedroom, but the others are all sleeping two up, which is better than the fo’c’sle or the girls at the home so they’re not grumbling. A bunch of them have got an allotment, a patch to grow food on, but my bad back makes digging difficult so I came round and spoke to Helen”.

“We can always use extra volunteer helpers. Of course social services made a huge fuss about getting him CRB checked”.

“Sorry what”.

“Me not having a criminal record”.

“Well you haven’t, ……….have you”.

“But I can’t prove that, since any such criminal record would be in the hands of the non-existent police service of Westeros, who the local police aren’t allowed to try and contact even if they did exist”.

“So you have to prove you’re innocent, that’s not right I’ve done burden of proof in one of my first citizenship lessons it’s up to the state to prove you’re guilty”.

“In theory yes, in practice if you’re foreign they can keep mucking you about in the hope you give up”.

“But you didn’t”.

“Fifty years at sea, what do you think”.

“It might have helped that when Sascha ran off it was Marcus who found her and brought her straight back to us”.

I look at Sascha’s face, there’s not a lot of signs of distress at this “I couldn’t cope for a bit, things got too much, my problems crowding in on me, so I ran away, but Marcus came and found me and persuaded me to come back so I said to them, look he saved me, even if only from a wet night on the streets he can’t be all bad, and he isn’t”. She gives him a big hug and he raises his eyebrows. I can’t help feeling jealous of Sascha, there are a few times I’ve wanted to give Marcus a hug, one way or another, but it was never going to happen on the ship, now she’s getting to do so and I’m thousands of miles away.

“So that was that settled”.

“Tell ‘er about ‘er boyfriend”.

“He’s not her boyfriend Sascha”.

“Well ‘e’s not ‘keeping in touch’”, she does what I’ve learned are called air quotes round these words “with me or Phoeb’s or Soph is ‘e”.

“Do you mean Andy Rodney”.

“See, she knew who I was talkin’ about”.

“If I can get a word in please Sascha”.

“Soz”.

“Yes, Lt Rodney has called me a couple of times to find out if you’re alright, but he has _also_ been trying to get some of the older girls to consider a career in the navy. Apparently the government has the idea there should be more women in the military and that they’re not trying hard enough to recruit them so Andy’s been set to do something about it. He seems to think that Marcus is also on his side and will tell them about the positives of a life at sea”.

“And are you”.

“My life at sea didn’t include using all the clever technical things they’ve got on their ships, nor did it include fighting other ships. You know my views about violence, on which topic I hope you’ve been behaving yourself”.

“Of course I have, besides Helen’s got my knife”.

“Yes I realised that a week after you’d gone when I had to confiscate something from Ella and found it locked away. You can’t need it though can you”.

I had to think about that and the obvious answer was no, I hadn’t had to cut anything more than a piece of paper, “No, but it’s got sentimental value so please don’t lose it”.

“It’s quite safe, it sounds like you don’t plan to forget us so it will be here until you come back, even if only to visits”.

“That might be sooner than you think and before you say it Marcus no it’s not some risky plan”.

“We’ve had a lot of attention from the press wanting to talk to you, but the judge says nothing at your age and apparently that’s been passed on to the authorities in New Westeros. She’s quite a cheerless person professionally; I hope she’s a bit more fun with her family and friends”.

I wasn’t too bothered by that. I didn’t feel any urge to tell my story to everyone because it was fairly obvious it was more likely to be misunderstood than not. In later years I’d realise it was probably misunderstood by me at that point as well.

We chattered away for the rest of the free session, the only other real news was that there’d been a disagreement with someone from higher up the management chain about waterdancing. Apparently the manager said that the girls shouldn’t do it because it was cultural appropriation. When he was told I’d been the one to show them he’d got confused. Helen said could I send her an e-mail with instructions for some more complex exercises, a) so the girls could try something new and b) so she could use them as proof I was still teaching them. I said yes without thinking, later I realised I had to work out how to describe what I did in words, which actually was quite difficult.

Finally we were cut off having agreed to call again in a week; however I’d barely turned to Sansa when I had a second session invite. This time it was just Marcus “I saw you look worried when they mentioned Ella so just to let you know she isn’t a problem anymore, the three of them made it plain in their own way; Helen and I aren’t asking for details”.

“Good”.

“Now what are you plotting to get back here”.

“Nothing you need to worry about, I’m just going to ask some questions and see what Bran Stark has to say for himself”.

“Alright then” and he cut the link.

“Who’s this Andy Rodney then”, Sansa had sat fairly quietly during the call, we’d not really discussed anything that meant anything to her, but now there was a light in her eyes that said ‘juicy gossip’.

“He was the junior naval officer who I met on my first trip to get my hands on our gold, later he ran me round to the bank. That’s it really”.

“What did he look like, was he dishy”

“Well he was fairly tall, well built, but without looking silly, he’s clearly fit but not muscle bound”.

“What colour are his hair and eyes”

“I think his hair was brownish but, I don’t go staring into people’s eyes so I have no idea”.

“I bet you he noticed what colour yours are”.

“What were you wearing when you met him”.

“I can’t remember”.

“Stuff I bought you or the home left overs”.

I had to think about it, “It was before I met you so it must have been the home stuff”.

“So second hand baggy tat, he must be keen to see past the clothes to the girl underneath”.

“You’re making a mountain out of molehill, it’s more likely that he wanted an excuse to start his recruiting drive at the home and just used my name to get Helen to talk to him”.

“Then why are you blushing”.

I was about to say I wasn’t when I realised my face did feel a bit hot, and noticing myself probably only made it worse. “Well he’s thousands of miles away so it’s all a bit silly”.

“Ah but he’s in the navy, one of their ships could be up here in a week or so”.

“He’s currently obvious working on shore doing recruitment”.

“Come on Arya, you deserve a boyfriend after all you’ve been thorough, and he’s a better choice than the geek you were snogging at the disco. At least let yourself dream a bit before you go to sleep”.

Well they say ‘a girl can dream’ so maybe I did, but they were being silly he was years older than me and they were big on that mattering round here.

\--------------------------------------------

Parker appeared in my room, it was well into autumn, Sansa was back at school planning what to study at university, she hadn’t a clue, and working for her ‘A’ levels. According to Talisa I’m ‘catching up fast’ so generally I don’t have much free time or anyone to spend it with. Mr and Mrs Stark continue to treat me as if I’m a strange pet, as long as I remain house trained I’m actually ignored. I’m not unhappy but life isn’t exactly exciting

“Excuse me Arya, but there‘s a gentleman down stairs asking to speak to you”. The look on his face is interesting, since I’m not supposed to be any good at reading people’s expressions I’m working very hard on doing exactly that. I’d guess he’s amused by something.

“Did he say why”.

“I’m afraid not”.

He’s playing twenty questions with me; well I’m not biting, “Then bring him up”.

“Very good”.

I wrap up the work I’m doing, it’s something I can come back to easily later.

“Morning Arya”

“Ah…Ah”, managed it I didn’t swear. I deserve to it is Lt Andy Rodney in his best uniform. “This looks like a formal call in that rig”.

“Yes well I’m taking a big chance here and for part 2 I need to look impressive”.

“Part 2”.

“Yes, I know it won’t affect your answer but then I have to speak to Mr or Mrs Stark and I’ve been told that the smarter I look the better that will go”.

“What in...., what do you want to talk to them about”.

“Well maybe I don’t, that depends on you”.

I have no idea where this conversation is going, and no his face is giving nothing sensible away, he looks excitedly nervous, which make no sense to me her and now. “I’m sorry Andy but you might as well be speaking Kyrotomian, why are you here”. His face falls, oops I’ve got that wrong “Not that it isn’t nice to see you” positive reaction.

“Have you ever wanted a big brother”

“I had one but he’s dead, and what I thought was a step brother but then it turned out he was my cousin, but he was like a big brother. He’s still alive but obviously I’m not going to see him anytime soon. I’m sorry but I’m still confused”.

“Of flip I’m making a mess of this aren’t I”.

“Well you’re confusing me, that’s for certain. Why don’t you tell me why you’ve come in simple words”

“Can I take you out tonight for dinner somewhere smart”.

He now looks very nervous, and I’m sure about that. Suddenly I can here Sansa in my head ‘he’s in the navy, one of their ships could be up here in a week’. “Andy are you asking me on what Sansa would call a date”.

“I don’t know who Sansa is but your friend Sascha would call it a date yes. If I’m honest it was her who said I should come and see you if I could”.

“You haven’t just sailed up here to see me”.

“No silly, I’m the most junior officer on the ship, the captain, and he is the captain not the master, I’ve talked to Marcus so I know the difference to the two of you, doesn’t organise a shakedown cruise just to promote my love life”.

“Your love life, hang on you seem not be getting a bit ahead of yourself here. Even if we totally ignore the things about me being a child here, we’ve had a couple of chats, I don’t leap into bed with men that easily”.

“I hope at your age you don’t leap into bed with men at all Arya, and all I’m suggesting is that we go out for a meal and with a chaperone”.

“So what’s that got to do with my love life”.

“Well I am sort of hoping if you see some more of me you might fall in love with me”.

“Why”.

“Because I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen in love with you”.

“Andy, you seem like a really nice person, not least because you’re now blushing madly and only innocent nice people do that sort of thing while telling someone they love them and yes you’re a good looking bloke too, but otherwise you sound like a ten year old. You don’t fall in love with some in the time we’ve seen each other”.

“That’s what I’ve tried to tell myself, I’m twenty and a naval officer, but all I know is I can’t stop thinking about you, what you look like how you behave, the things you’ve done”.

“That’s where you’re playing with fire Andy, you don’t know most of the things I’ve done and you don’t want to”.

“I know you sailed over from Westeros in a very small boat as a working member of the crew, that it was you who set out alone to find rescuers for the crew and you succeeded, that Marcus says he’d be proud to be your father and I quote ‘You should go for it, she deserves a decent man’”.

“You’ve told Marcus”, and what had Marcus told him.

“Well I asked him so many questions about you he put two and two together and your pal Sascha worked me out even quicker”.

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know; apart from me that is”.

“Mr and Mrs Stark are the obvious two, which is why I’m togged up; if you say yes I need to put my best appearance on to convince them to let you and to provide a chaperone”.

I just sat there, what could I say.

“Look I’m sorry this has all gone wrong and I’ve frightened you, let’s forget it” he got up.

“Don’t you dare walk out now. You’ve come thousands of miles to tell me this you can sit still and let me think about it a bit” and I did and he hadn’t much choice to either and after a while I was no further forward thinking about it than I had been at the start, so what did that bloke Hume say about only emotions being important. I couldn’t remember, oh hang it [or something like that], “Alright so what’s the plan, where are we going and so on”.

“Seriously”

“Yes seriously, but don’t jump to conclusions, we’re going out for a meal or something similar and we’re going to behave like friends, you’re not even going to get a goodnight kiss and then you’re getting back on your ship and sailing off and we might exchange e-mail addresses if you’ve been a good boy, no Skype just e-mail and I’m going back to prepping to take my ‘O’ Levels. Got that”.

“Got it”.

“Good now we have to think about how to spin this to the Starks, one mention of your romantic feelings and I’m pretty sure I’ll be locked up for the duration of your ships visit”.

“We met in M-L and you joked about me coming up to visit and now by accident I have so…”.

“It’s as lame as the three legged horse”.

“Do you have any better ideas”.

“No”.

Parker came in to the room “Mr Stark has just come home, I think the young man should go downstairs and meet him”.

“Have you been hanging about outside my door”

“I’d like to think that I’ve been acting as your chaperone in a discreet manner, which is what I shall tell Mr stark when, and it will be when, he asks”.

We all headed downstairs. As we did I was asking myself how convincing I could make this. I went into the drawing room “Hi Mr Stark, This is Lt Andy Rodney, a friend from M-L whose ships on exercise and has stopped here for a day or two so he came up to see me”.

I’m sure that the uniform did it otherwise I think he’d have been out on his ear, but Brandon almost came to attention to shake Andy’s hand “Good afternoon. I must admit Arya’s not mentioned you, but as a naval officer I’m sure you’re a gentleman. Well feel free to enjoy the hospitality of the house. I’m a busy man but I’m sure Arya will look after you and my daughter will be home shortly” and in typical fashion he was going to leave the room.

“I do just have one quick question Mr Stark”, Brandon stopped “May I take Arya out for dinner tonight, it’s a bit silly but she sort of teased me sort of challenged me when we were back in M-L so I feel the Navy’s honour is at stake. I’m paying and of course for whomever you send as chaperone”.

Whomever, no one uses whom, well except perhaps for an admiral’s son who’s also a naval officer and is trying to make a good impression. Clever the way he’d also thrown the whole thing onto me, well clever for him if Brandon said no.

“Well that sounds a very thin excuse young man, but contrary to what Arya is probably expecting I’m not entirely unfeeling so as long as Arya is happy then you may take her out. You will both travel in one of my cars and Parker my chauffeur will be present at all times. He’s a good man, he can do discreet, you just need to pick somewhere where the bar overlooks the dining area”.

“Thank you sir”.

\----------------------

Parker pulled up alongside the quay and HMS Intrepid, Andy got out and I’ll swear he was about to just say good night and walk up the gangplank so I grabbed his lapels, pulled him back into the car and kissed him, not for long but long enough to make it plain this wasn’t the sort of kiss you’d give your grandmother, “You can get e-mail on the ship”.

“Of course, this is the twenty-first century, we don’t use signal flags any more”.

“Good then make sure you write” and to avoid prolonging things I pushed him out of the car “Off we go Parker” and we were moving away. I did wave out of the back window.

It wasn’t a long drive back to the house and Parker was as silently discreet as he’d been all evening, which was good because I needed time to think. He dropped me at the front door and I went inside as quietly as I could. It wasn’t that late, but everything was quiet so I just headed up to my room. Oddly there was light on, oh well that had to mean one thing someone was waiting for me and it wasn’t hard to work out who. I opened the door and walked in

“So dish the dirt, where did you go, what did he say and more to the point what did you both do”.

“Blooming heck Sansa let me get the door shut”.

“Oh yes, we don’t want eavesdroppers, not that there’ll be any, the servants are long gone and my parents probably don’t really care if you were raped, pillaged and beaten as long as it was done discreetly and without causing a fuss”.

“I think you might be maligning your father a bit”.

“And I think you’re being discreet, we both know he’s a callous shit, you’re just too polite to say it to my face, but forget him, the details, come on”.

“Well it’s all very respectable, he took me to ‘The Ship to Westeros’, very posh and overlooking the ocean, paid for a meal for Parker too, said he couldn’t just sit at the bar nursing a drink all night. We took our time and had a lot of courses so we could talk, well so he could talk. Then Parker ran him back to his ship I kissed him goodnight and came home”.

“One kiss in all that time, tongues”

“None of your business”

“Oh you spoilsport. You realise no one’s ever done that for me. I don’t know how he got past daddy”.

“I think the uniform did it, your father nearly came to attention to shake hands, I suspect he was actually a bit intimidated”.

“I need a pilot then, preferably a fighter pilot”.

I said nothing, hopefully Sansa would move on to her prospective fighter pilot and forget me. No such luck

“So what did he talk about”.

What had we talked about “You know I’m not sure I can remember much, none of it was serious we just chattered and laughed”.

“You were so swept away by him it’s all a blur, I’m so jealous”.

Was she right, quite a lot of it did seem quite vague and I normally have a good memory for detail. “Well he told me a lot about his background. If we were doing the family mating preparation he certainly laid out his lineage and it’s all very impressive; there’s been an admiral Rodney in the navy for several hundred years so they’re certainly not short of money or social status in M-L. He does a bit of what he called amateur sailing in his spare time. He went to great lengths to stress this wasn’t on a par with sailing over from Westeros. I suppose that’s the scary thing, he likes the girl who sailed from Westeros, not the girl who lived in Westeros before that and I’m not sure he’d like her at all, after all her own sister doesn’t”.

“You don’t want to talk about that sort of thing do you”.

“No”.

“Maybe you should, not to him at this point, you’re right you don’t want to scare him off, but you should talk to someone. What was it that Socky chap said about ‘a life unexamined’ or something”.

I was starting to worry about Sansa, she kept listening to what I said and then throwing it back to me when I least wanted to hear it. “You know you’re beginning to sound really like an irritating big sister”.

She grabbed me and hugged me, hard and didn’t let go I had to just sit there. After a while I realised there were sniffing sounds coming from Sansa. “Hey Sans, I did say irritating, don’t pretend I like you”.

She let go of me and set back, got out a tissue and dried her eyes. “Thanks for trying and you do lie with a very straight face, but if you don’t like me no one else does”.

“You must have loads of friends at school”.

“Aggressive competitive little bitch’s who would ruin my life at the drop of a hat to get ahead themselves, particularly if we were discussing getting their hands on a rich boyfriend”.

“Come on it can’t be that bad, there must be someone who isn’t like that”.

“Nope”.

“Oh”.

“And I’m sure the things you don’t want to talk about are so much worse than my little juvenile sulks”.

“You don’t sulk, although I’ve know the odd tantrum”. That got a grin.

“You’ve changed the subject haven’t you. You didn’t do that every time Andy tried to talk ask you did you”.

Had I, “I don’t think so”.

“Because if you’re really worried he doesn’t know you, you have to let him in and find out. I mean he’s got so much going for him, fit, hunky but not stupidly so, good career and willing to come up her and face my father to take you out”.

“When you put it like that he does sound a bit of alright, but it’s so sudden, even he admits it doesn’t make sense and he’s five years older than me, he’s got to wait three years before he can even think about getting serious”.

“You told me in your Westeros that they marry young girls off to old men who’ve lost their wives and heirs so they can start all over again. That’s far worse than this. Imagine when you’re 80, he’ll be 85 and you’ll both be laughing about how it all began and that you thought it was a problem”.

“Woa, suddenly I’m 80, you’ll be giving me children and grandchildren”.

“Dozens of them, you’ll be one of those women who has her first child and wonders why she ever took so long and go on and have a dozen”.

She was laughing so at least we’d forgotten the tears from earlier. “However many children I have you’ve also just wiped out my whole life. I want to plan for next year not my dotage”.

“Back to Andy, you got his e-mail address so you can mail him on the ship”.

“Yes I obeyed orders ma’am”, she threw my pillow at me and things got a bit silly for a few minutes, then then door opened.

“I can hear the two of you down the length of the hall, I can’t get to sleep for the row, Sansa get back to your room”. Mrs Stark paused “He brought you back then did he, shame, I was rather hoping he’d hide you on the boat and take you away” and she was gone, not without slamming the door loudly behind her.

There was nothing to say after that, Sansa went and I went to bed. There’s a bit of poetry about ‘perchance to dream”, but what I dream about is my business.


	32. Well I never, who'd  have thought it

Well they say ‘seek and ye shall find’ and everyone says it’s up to me to be self-motivated, and the internet has got everything on it if you know where to look and it’s really only local history and a bit of economics, but I’ve found something rather interesting about Brandon Stark’s businesses. Back in 1923 [it was 2021 when I was at the Starks] there was a big economic crash. The Stark’s functionally went bust but survived by selling all their land to people who still had non business related capital and leasing it back from them. Those leases were 99 years so I realised that they were all set to expire in 2022. Potentially the whole business empire was going to collapse unless they could buy the land back. There’s some detail missing obviously, who owns the land is in the public domain in something called the land registry, but the prices and what happens at the end of the lease are in whatever contracts were signed. Maybe there’s something special in this case where having had the income the current holders have had their profit and the land reverts to the Starks, but more typically the landholder negotiates a new lease at higher rents, or just throws the tenants out because it’s all his now. This would explain why Bran is desperate for my money; if he can throw enough money at them, the landowners would sell him his business and his house back.

I keep going, Stark enterprises is a dispersed business doing lots of different things and some of them are working well, but others aren’t; overall the business is coping, just, so it’s highly unlikely that they have a huge pot of cash ready and waiting. Obviously they could float the business on the stock market but then it wouldn’t be the family business, just another company and I found one article a few years old that asked ‘would you invest in ‘Stark enterprises if you could’ and concluded it wouldn’t be a good investment.

So my six month review was coming up and I had a little list, it wasn’t a long list, but it would serve two purpose, it would make it plain to Brandon I didn’t want to be here and it would, in a measured way, show the judge that he wasn’t an ideal choice as my guardian.

1) Neither Mr nor Mrs Stark has had anything to do with my upbringing in the last six month, I am effectively being raised by their daughter and the servants, plus a very nice young lady called Talisa who is my paid tutor.  
2) While Mr Stark is at least generally polite he considers my autism to make me a whacko, by comparison his wife does her best to pretend I’m not in the same room unless to make similar comments or suggest that it would have been a good thing if a naval officer had abducted me.  
3) Mrs Stark is clearly doing more at the tennis club that playing tennis, the term ‘mixed doubles’ is clearly used routinely in the family to indicate this and Mr Stark does his best to use his daughter to prevent this.  
4) Stark Enterprises is in a very poor medium term financial position. It is possible that before I’m 18 Mr Stark will not be living in the house we currently occupy or running the business. [I will say nothing about the obvious connection to my money, the judge isn’t an idiot].

So Sansa and I were booking flights, I had to appear in person and Brandon was too busy, which was another bit of evidence to go with point 1; so Sansa was ‘taking’ me. She was booking two returns, “You know I don’t want to come back so is it cheaper to book returns and cancel one or book me a single and then have to get another single if I can’t say in M-L”.

“You’ll be back”.

I showed her my little list, she went positively pale; for a second I thought she was going to pass out. 

“And you’re going to tell them this”

“Yes”.

“What about us”.

“We can Skype every evening”.

“That’s not the same. You said the other week you were jealous of Sascha being able to give Marcus a hug, how do you think I’m going to feel when you’re gone”. Tears started to roll down her face. “You don’t know what it was like before you came. At least daddy has to be civil to me with you around, before it was just endless criticism and mummy; at least while you’re here she can’t make accusations about what my being born did to her. You must have realised I wait for you in the morning and come to bed with you in the evening so I’m not alone with them”.

Oh, bother and flipping heck and other words to that effect. “What do you mean ‘what my being born did to her’” I said it before my brain was really in gear, I didn’t know what to say but felt I had to say something, so just ask a question, right – wrong.

“Apparently I was so large I had a permanent effect and that’s why she has to find and I quote ‘a man who’s more of a man than your father’, so you see even her playing mixed doubles is my fault”.

I didn’t really want to hear that, but I’d opened the bottle and the genie was out, only this one wasn’t offering three wishes to put everything right. I thought about my scars, everyone who saw them was all sympathy, Sansa’s scars weren’t visible in the same way but they were still there. I had no idea what to say so I just took hold of Sansa and held her until she stopped crying. 

“Please say nothing, it’s not long, you’ve done six months already and it’s not that bad, we’ve had some fun haven’t we”.

And the hard answer was yes we’d had some fun, Sansa had gone out of her way to be kind to me and as a result it didn’t seem like six months.

“Just ‘til you’re 18 please, then we can both go somewhere, do something together”.

“Steady on Sansa, how am I going to fit in my naval officer and dozen children if we’re busy being inseparable twins”.

“You’ll think of something, I know you will, Talisa’s right you’re clever you’ll find an answer, something I can do that means I don’t have to work in daddy’s company, if it still exists, because you’re right he has no idea how he’s going to avoid effectively being chucked out on his ear”.

Well one part of my mind was exercising my nautical vernacular; a second bit was thinking who’s looking after who here. [It probably should be whom but I’m a bit slack on grammar]. “Look Sansa, I know this is going to sound like I’m a total bitch, but the idea of three years is too much. You’ll be 18 before my 12 month review date, I’m going to pull the plug then, so we need to find you a way out by then. Either you get into a university overseas, like M-L, or you find a job away from here. You could always join the navy, then if I get tired of Andy you’d be in the ideal position to step in and take over”. It was a joke, entirely a joke but I’d noticed the way she looked at him when she ‘popped in’ while we were Skyping. 

“Do you think I could, really, have I got the guts”.

“You have with me behind you. You’re still not sure about college, go back and talk to your teachers, be honest about wanting to be more independent, not relying on your family name, that sort of thing and see what they suggest. And yes I’m planning to go back to M-L so ask about options down south. You love sunbathing, you’d be in heaven”.

\-------------------------------------------

So we fly back to M-L and stop at the Dorchester so that Brandon can show how much he cares. First evening I get Helen and Marcus and the girls to come round. Everyone’s a bit subdued, which I put down to the court appearance tomorrow, so it’s small talk. As they’re on the way out Helen shepherds me aside.

“May I ask what you’re planning to say tomorrow”.

“I’m not going to ask to come back, but I want another review in six months from now and I want no changes to the financial position unless Marcus tells them the lads need more money”. I’ve discussed this with the solicitor and Marcus but not with Helen. She seems relieved.

“OK, then it’s not going to be a long hearing and we can have a chat before you fly home”.

“I don’t like the sound of that Helen, what aren’t you telling me”.

“Nothing that matters for now, master of the good ship Stratton Road remember, trust me and we’ll talk tomorrow or maybe even in a couple of months, it really isn’t that urgent or important”.

I’m not convinced but she’s gone before I can think up a good reply to make her stay and explain now. Sansa and I go back to our room and I tell her about the conversation. She says I don’t have to worry, Helen’s on my side and yes I’m sure she is but that doesn’t man she won’t have to give me some bad news along the way.

\---------------------------------------------

So Helen’s right it’s a very short hearing, same judge, not happy that Brandon hasn’t bothered to turn up, mollified when I say there isn’t anything to argue about as I’m content, I pointedly don’t say happy, to stay with him for another six months. She says, should we extend the period, after all if I’m happy. I say I want to know what Sansa is doing as we spend a lot of time together so six months it is.

Then Sharkey gets up and goes into a long spiel about the money. After five minutes the judge cuts him off, he’s saying nothing he didn’t say six months ago and he’s getting the same answer. He’s advised not to repeat himself in six months’ time.

So we’re out well before lunch. Marcus has come to court but Helen is at the home and can’t leave it. He doesn’t know what she wants to say to me so Sansa and I go back to the home with him. We find Helen in her office eating her lunchtime sandwich. “Hi Helen, no surprises at court, so please tell me what you need to say to me. You’ve got me worried, I don’t like suspense”.

“Can I ask you a question first”.

“Yes”.

“What are your plans for six months’ time, Sansa will be finished school by then won’t she”.

Ah, Helen’s not daft, “Yes, I can trust you can’t I”. That get me another look I’m not sure I can interpret, but I think is a version of ‘yes’. “I’ve got a little list, but it’s on ice today because I don’t want to leave Sansa in the lurch. We’ve got six months to find her a college place here or something else that gets her out of the house, then I get my list out and I’m coming home”.

“You hope”.

“I’m pretty confident”.

“Well let’s suppose you do you need to think of a few things”.

She pauses; I just look at her so she restarts

“What you’ll come home to won’t be what you left”.

“They’re knocking the home down”.

“No, but things will have changed”.

“In what way”.

“We try not to be a long term residence and I’m please to tell you that with two of your best friends we’ve been successful, Phoebe is going back to her family and Sascha is going to join the merchant navy so she’ll be at their training college, not here”.

“What about Sophie”.

“At present Sophie’s still with us, but given how shy she is we’ve already started on working on a new friendship group for her. To try and boost her confidence we’ve made her the senior girl in a room full of younger girls who are like her, shy and quiet. We’re hoping she’ll have to step up to the mark a bit and realise she can do it”.

“So if I come back it’ll be like day 1 again”.

“Well if you come back it would be difficult to justify finding you a bed at all. You can afford your own accommodation, which with Marcus now accredited to work with children would probably mean somewhere for the two of you with me in an overview role. And from what I’ve been told you’ll be ready of normal education by that time, so it will be in to a local school, which might be a struggle if you’re really bright, or a private tutor again, in which case you’re a bit short of friends. I’m not saying stay with Brandon Stark, but be prepared for some changes”. 

“Oh well OK, thanks for the heads up and yes last night makes sense I might have got silly and set the bomb off to try and get back here. So can we sit and talk about 6 months a bit”.

Marcus spoke up, “Of course you can and I’m not ‘I’m here and it’s set in stone’; if you think you need me to be around I’ll be around even if it means moving”.

“Thanks”.

“But it’s good for you to step away from me, all part of growing up, which you’re still doing as I told you a few months ago”.

Gods was it only a few months it felt like a lifetime, “You did and I’m not rushing into children so that could take some time”.

“Good how’s Andy”.

“Fine”.

“And how’s the Arya plus Andy plan”.

“Fine”.

“Mmmm”.

“What does mmmm mean”.

“Much the same as fine”.

Which left me flying back north, feeling confused. Sansa was happy because we were still together, Helen and Marcus would be helpful but were looking for me to grow and move on. Sascha was moving one, we’d had a breathless five minutes when she got back from school, it was all Marcus and his helping her go to sea. I realised that I hadn’t been contacting them as often either so it wasn’t a one sided thing where they walked out on me. I’d actually known Sascha for less than a month, it was hardly surprising, but it made ‘what Sansa did next’ the priority of the day.


	33. We move on, in many ways

So we were back in the icy vaults of New Winterfell. The ice was entirely caused by the occupants, we had gas central heating and Mrs S was averse to the cold so the place was at 21 degrees, which meant I walked round everywhere indoors in nothing more than a short sleeved blouse, t-shirts were banned as common, tennis shorts and trainers. This got me more attention from Mrs S, but entirely of the ‘You’ll catch your death of cold’ or ‘Do you think showing that much leg is appropriate’ variety.

The amount of leg on display was because they’d decided that I was to be introduced to their friends, well more accurately Brandon’s business acquaintances. Apparently the rough edges had been knocked off my manners, which just meant I’d got out of the bad habit I’d acquired on the ship of swearing every third word and learned not to refer to solars or small clothes but call them the drawing room and my knickers, not of course that I would refer to knickers in polite company.

I suppose to be fair to them I had reached a rather uncivilised level of behaviour on board the Petrel. The point had come up a few times earlier but was made most obviously when Parker knocked on my door one morning and without thinking I shouted ‘come in’ so he did to find me in a state which caused him considerable embarrassment. Realising that the embarrassment was genuine made me consider that just because something was OK with me didn’t mean it was acceptable to other people.

Mentioning the Petrel reminds me of another thing. I only got to see it on video feed, although it made the local news in M-L, but the end of the Petrel was as a target for the navy. She had no useful use in the Dragon Lands and was pretty beaten up so it was decide that she be given a fitting send off. MLS Valiant, not Andy’s ship he was ‘On patrol’ on the Inland Sea, towed her out to sea and then turned round and came past about a mile away and opened fire. It was quite spectacular, she caught fire before she came apart and the burning remains floated around for a while in the gathering dusk. Marcus admitted he must have got a bit of grit in his eye while watching from the bridge of the Valiant.

I’m sorry if this is getting a bit disorganised and bitty, but unlike the more exciting parts of my life there was a lot of ‘same old same old’ at New Winterfell as I went through the routine of getting up, doing my lessons, spending a bit of time with Sansa; in effect leading an ordinary life and since I didn’t keep a diary at the time some recollections aren’t quite exactly fixed in date or time. 

In one way this probably did me good, too much stress can’t actually be beneficial and after a couple of months of eating what I wanted when I wanted I did realise that I’d spent a good part of the previous five years malnourished. The result of this was that while I didn’t grow much taller I filled out a bit even to the point where I had to think ‘No one pudding’s enough’. Not that I let myself stop exercising, on board ship there were so many things to do that you didn’t need to work at it but now I had to set up a regime, some waterdancing for agility, speed and cardio, and a rowing machine, for more cardio and resistance. I did 30 minutes and I was nowhere near the world record of 7,422 m for a 15 year old, but I could get to 6,000 m on a good day which for someone my size I still think was pretty impressive.

One day someone remember that I hadn’t been inoculated against anything, not Measles mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Chicken pox, hepatitis A & B, polio, meningitis, HPV, TB or flu. I’m still not entirely sure I can remember what some of them are, but it was off to the doctors to be jabbed. Apparently as a child I’d have had a few at a time over the years, but I was on a catch up schedule, a visit a week for several weeks and some sore spots where they kept sticking them in.

So as I said before I digressed, social events with Brandon’s business associates, their wives and children, in the winter dinner parties, as the weather improved throw in barbeques at weekends, sometimes at our house, sometimes charity events at large venues, sometimes at other people’s houses. The first sad fact about these events was that it was obvious that none of the children wanted to be there, we were all in effect ‘in training’ for how the adults expected us to go on and behave, few of them went to the same schools or if they did they were in different years, this last distinction I found particularly odd, so you’re a few months older than me and that makes you superior to me; sore tongue time again. There were a few moments when people wouldn’t take hints and steer away from subjects, and remember I’m the autistic one here. The lady who just didn’t believe anyone could sail that far but couldn’t suggest where else I’d come from, the man who told me I couldn’t kill anybody and I ought to see a shrink for my delusional attention seeking; sorry Marcus, but it was only a butter knife so it only bruised his ribs. The best one however had to be the lawyer friend of Brandon’s, not Sharkey, Brandon employed him so he wasn’t a friend, who spent a good hour explaining all the ways I could claim to have been traumatised by my former life and how I could sue the people responsible and when I pointed out that they were all thousands of miles away said well I should sue the governments of M-L and New Westeros on the principle someone had to be made to pay for what I’d suffered we could argue that by not invading and colonising Westeros years ago they’d created the problem.

Then there was Meera, Sansa’s best friend forever since they’d been five. I felt a bit sorry for Meera, she was a nice girl and to her I’d appeared and muscled in on her BFF status pretty seriously. I did my best to stress that Sansa and I were just making the best of living with Brandon and Mrs S, but it was true that Sansa saw less of her than she had and it wasn’t the ‘just us’ thing when there were three of us, lots of stories had to be explained to me, which spoiled the spontaneity of the ‘we both know to laugh, cry, sigh at this point’. Sometimes I tried to leave them alone but Sansa wouldn’t take the hint. Then one night things went ever so slightly belly up. We were at Meera’s, which was unusual in itself, and we were on our own except for a couple of their servants and Parker, no doubt sat in the kitchen doing a crossword until he was needed. Meera got out some alcohol, the two girls were expected to drink at social vents now they were 18, I of course was the fruit juice drinker. So when we’d a had a couple of glasses each I was just a bit further down the road to inebriation than they were. Then the two of them decided to start on about Andy, we’d been keeping in touch and he kept saying he still felt the same and I kept saying I didn’t really feel anything and he kept saying he was a patient person. The scary thing about that last bit was that he said it just like Marcus did. So anyway Meera starts to tease and drop innuendo about my growing up and maybe letting him do a little something just so he didn’t end up a bit too frustrated and then Sansa joined in. They were merrily pretending that they knew all about sex and I was little miss innocent who might get a shock if. Well you can guess what came next, a glass too much alcohol loosened my tongue and I told them about the night before Winterfell. Well at first there was a bit of ‘Oh yes that sounds a good story’ and then Sansa looked at me very hard.

“You’re not joking are you”.

“Why would I”.

“Well to look more grown up than you are”.

“Why”.

“To shut us up, get us off your back”.

“And has it”, I wasn’t drunk just a bit merry and reality had dawned quite quickly “No, because either now we’re going into have the ‘You haven’t’ endlessly until I provide enough explicit detail that you realise I have, or you’re going to get freaked out because you’re going to want to work out how old I was and then get even more freaked out when you come up with the number. Can we pretend I never said it and find something else to talk about”.

“That’s going to be hard to do”.

“Well try”. There was a long silence while two people tried very very hard not to think about it, which you can’t do, you have to think about something else and they couldn’t.

Meera cracked first “It doesn’t bother you that it happened”.

“No”.

“But it should, so doesn’t it worry you that you aren’t worried”.

“No”.

“Why not”.

“Because in the middle of all the other things happening at the time it seemed the right thing to do, certainly not the massively wrong thing that it seems to you. The Dragon Lands and Westeros are two different worlds, living by different rules”.

“But surely some things are just wrong anywhere anytime anyhow”.

“Morale absolutes”.

“Yes”.

“So give me one”.

“Well what he did to you”.

“I went to him, I initiated the act, I’m pretty sure if he’d said no I’d have found someone else who would have instead”.

“How could you”.

“I thought I was going to be dead within the day, so I didn’t think just once would really hurt and it didn’t”.

“I don’t understand”.

“No and I don’t expect you to. I don’t want to start a list but my life hadn’t been easy for a few years. You and Sansa are worried about where to go to university and what degrees to read for. Those are important things to be worried about, particularly in a world where your degree may well shape a big chunk of your life. I don’t know how sorted you are but Sansa is struggling and I’m trying to help her and I’m struggling even more. If I wanted to get upset tonight it would be because of that, not because of something that happened just over a year ago, that I actually found quite enjoyable”.

“So why are you pussyfooting round Andy, you two haven’t even kissed yet have you”.

“Once pretty much in public, but that’s all. I’m, as you put it ‘pussy footing round Andy’, because I’m far from sure we’re a couple, I’m far from sure I’m a couple person. It’s not about the physical relationship it’s about the emotional one. Look this is something I’ve told virtually no one but I could have slept with another man who I know would have asked me to marry him afterwards and that was the reason I didn’t. Very definitely in my mind the man I chose was because he would and then we’d walk away from each other and be comfortable with that”.

“Oh”.

“Yes Oh”.

Parker appeared in the room door “things calm in here, only the noise was coming thorough to the kitchen”.

I realised yes I’d been shouting a bit. “We’re fine, but I think it’s time for us to go home if you don’t mind Sansa”.

“No”.

“Thanks for a lovely evening Meera, I’m sorry I got a bit rowdy”.

“No I maybe I shouldn’t have pried”.

“I understand why you did and it has to happen one day. I’m Ok, we’re good”.

“Sure”.

“Sure”.

It was a very quiet journey home. When we go back to the house I headed for bed but Sansa came after me

“Arya are you really worried about helping me get into Uni”.

“Yes”.

“Is that because of what didn’t happen at the six month review”.

“Yes”, and that blew it entirely, Sansa burst into tears. I grabbed hold and hugged “Look I’m worried, I’m not panicking, it’s just a difficult problem”, but she was gone so I waited until the sobbing had died down.

Sansa came up for air, snivelled and pulled away from me and sat on the bed “I haven’t told Meera either”.

“If you go to M-L, or anywhere else could she or would she follow. What I mean is, is it a real problem or are the two of you just going to drift apart at this stage of your lives naturally”.

“I’m pretty sure she’s already applied to New Westeros to study politics”.

“Surely you can apply to more than one university”.

“Yes, but mostly you end up at your first choice unless you mess your exams up and Meera’s clever like you so she won’t. That’s another thing that’s worrying me about applying to M-L it’s harder to get into and I’m not sure I can make the grades I’d need”.

“Have you worked out what you want to study yet”.

“No but it doesn’t matter pretty much everything at M-L is a grade higher than New Westeros, our Uni is a bit of a backwater in all honesty and they go to M-L from Kyrotome because the weather’s so good so that allows them to demand high grades. I know I’m just not that clever. I listen to you talking to Talisa some times and I struggle to keep up with the two of you”.

“Right well forget everything else lets sort this out now starting from the beginning. Two questions and think before you answer, maybe even until tomorrow, what are you actually good at and what excites you”.

“I know the answer to the second, the idea of getting out of here, of New Westeros, going new places and seeing new things, like you’ve done. Well maybe not quite so radically as to go to Old Westeros”.

“And did this all start when I arrived”.

“No ask Daddy I’ve always been badgering him to take me to different places on holiday and he never will, He says we’ve got this fancy house and the private beach below the old castle and why would I want to go anywhere else”.

“Well Sascha’s joined the merchant navy, they literally go lots of places”.

“You said once I should join the navy”.

“I think I was joking because Andy featured in the conversation as well didn’t he”.

“But it isn’t a stupid option”.

“Are you prepared to kill people”, that caused the pause I’d expected “Because don’t for one second think of joining the navy, or anything military if you aren’t. Just because there hasn’t been a war for a long time doesn’t mean it might not happen on your watch and that’s the wrong time discover you don’t approve of violence”.

“See it’s easy for you, you’ve done so much already you think of things like that and know what you want or don’t want”.

“Except that I know I don’t want any more violence so I’ve got to find a new path. I thought I had coming here, but now I’ve arrived here it isn’t working out. I imagined us sailing round the Inland Sea and up and down the coast finding different people living in different ways, maybe doing a bit of trading, which Marcus knew plenty about. Instead I’m turned into a little girl back at her lessons and much as I’m enjoying a lot of it I’m no wiser than you as to what to do next. Anyway I’m tired, that wine is kicking in, but like I said what are you good at”.


	34. Marcus doesn't do short answers

One evening Sansa came running into my room and insisted I turn the TV on. Marcus is on a discussion program. Apparently someone has decided that the question, ‘Can they be allowed to go home’ is worth an hour of people sat around and arguing. It’s quite amusing because they’ve clearly tried to organise team A – we go to Westeros and Team B – we don’t and they can’t go back; but Marcus keeps changing his mind, or at least pointing out the flaw in the other team’s argument, which seemed to really irritate the presenter. I’ll try and summarise his key points with her: -

Marcus: “There are people dying in Westeros through lack of modern drugs and sanitation and sometimes even food who wouldn’t if you went over there. Your hands off attitude is ‘We’re all right jack stuff you’. I don’t have statistics because strangely people in Westeros are too busy trying to stay alive to collect them and the system of doing so on velum parchment with all the maths done by hand would be practically impossible, but I can guarantee you that infant mortality, average age of death, death in childbirth for women are so much lower in Westeros and across the continent beyond”.

Presenter: “So you’re in favour of contact”.

M: “It’s not that simple, there are people in the empire, never mind the Chersky Pact who still aren’t happy with the things that follow on from the changes of industrialisation. Adventum still has an attitude to women that equates to effective slavery, the Chersky Pact are no more democratic than Westeros, and yet you expect to go to Westeros and then you’d have to keep going to Braavos and Essos and you’re going to tell these people all about the wonders of democracy, liberalism and female emancipation and expecting them all to go along with it. The first group who won’t are those in charge. Twenty years ago, just for a time the pact almost became democratic, but then they voted for a demagogic secret serviceman, effectively the dictatorship just took control of the slightly more democratic system. You can’t just walk in somewhere and say you’re democracy now have elections. It took you hundreds of years improving education extending the franchise a bit at a time”.

P: “So you’re saying we can’t do it even if we want to”.

M: “No, but it need to be done very subtly and over a significant period of time, the last bits the difficult part because democratic governments live with so much depending on the next election it’s difficult to have a coherent long term policy. That’s one of the big weaknesses of democracy to me”.

P: “Then there’s the question of immigration”.

M: “Yes and you only look at that from your side; all those ignorant foreigners coming to swell the numbers of ignorant people in your own country. Even if you assume that Westeros accepts the official representatives of the Dragon Lands, what about the unofficial ones who’ll want to go to Westeros in the expectation of exploiting the natives and making a load of money, or just living somewhere with a lower population density. You’ll probably get some ‘back to basics’ types who’ll go over there and try and persuade the locals not to update beyond a very simple level because they think you’ve gone too far over here with ‘rampant industrialism”.

P: “So what is the answer”.

M: “That’s for your politicians to decide”.

P: “That seems a very convenient escape clause for you”.

M: “You invited me on the program to give an opinion, which I have. If that opinion doesn’t fit a simple final soundbite it’s because real life’s more complex than TV soundbites, something politicians and the electorate should always keep in mind when dealing with each other. I haven’t even started to think about the possible unintended consequences when people manipulate the system to their advantage in strange ways you haven’t thought of”.

P: “What if the Chomsky pact set out West to reach Essos”.

M: “Then you’d go east, and the wishes of people in Westeros and Essos would just get subsumed in the geopolitical war between two empires”.

P: “But wouldn’t it be better for them to be in our empire than the Pact”.

M: “From what I’ve seen and read my current opinion would be marginally yes, but the locals might not think that way because you always hate those who are ruling over you. The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, sometimes when you get over the fence you find it isn’t and then you have to convince yourself it is or admit you made a big mistake”.

P: “What if we allowed those of you who came over to go back, with the knowledge you’ve acquired, no more contact, which we have the technology to enforce, but you can take books with you to distribute around so that Westeros can move forward in a more accelerated manner”.

M: “Given the age of most of us that’s putting a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a single fifteen year old, who you don’t consider an adult”.

P: “We could afford to wait a year or two even five”.

M: “Given Arya’s status in Westeros as a Princess of the North she might be listened to, but if her ideas were regarded as dangerous she might just as easily be killed. I’d not want that on my conscience. Then If Arya’s listened to in Westeros, she’s unlikely to be listened to in other countries so then you’ve just moved the problem east. Does Westeros move forward industrially and then use its strength to invade Braavos and Essos to create Greater Westeros or the Westerosian Empire, however they want to title it. Worse case give it a hundred years Westeros makes a key military discovery and you find them coming back across the Sunset sea with some sort of magic death ray and subjugating you”.

P: “Oh I think that’s unlikely”.

M: “Why, on the racist assumption you’re inherently superior, I’m sure that that’s how a couple of little empires in the Dragon Lands have fallen apart at some time”.

We sat and watched; the presenter’s final soundbite was along the lines of ‘It’s a complex question and we’ve clearly just scratched the surface tonight’, which made Marcus smile, I think he felt he’d scored a point.

As soon as it was over Sansa turned to me “What do you think”.

“That Marcus is right, it’s a complex problem, like him Westeros and beyond to have access to medicine and improved sanitation and all the good things from over here, but you can’t do that without taking some of your problems with you and creating completely new ones when you get there”. What I didn’t say was that I was getting some silly ideas in my head about sneaking back to Westeros and conveniently leaving them a carefully selected book or two.


	35. Small boys have their uses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not like that silly!

We were back at Meera’s and the wine was staying shut away because we were also babysitting Meera’s little brother, Loras.

Quick aside here, yes everyone in New Westeros has a name you’d recognise from old Westeros, and they’re all what I’ve learned are called White Westerosian, which is also pretty unusual in the Dragon Lands where different groups move around a lot.

So we’re babysitting Loras, or rather since he’s only twelve months younger than me, he’s in his bedroom and we’re downstairs, but I’m nosey, “What’s he up to up there”

“Playing games on his computer or tablet, depending on the game”.

“You hope”.

“What do you mean by that Sansa”.

“Remember Myrcella’s little brother ran up a £5,000 bill on _adult sites_ ”.

“He couldn’t”.

“Oh he could, the question is, is he”.

Which pretty much settled it; we were up the stairs and into Loras’ room faster than a police SWAT team. What did we find, Loras on his tablet playing “Viking Raiders” a game in which you pillage and burn your way down the coast of the Dragon lands from your base in the North. Really good players can graduate to sacking Kyrotome and becoming part of the Emperors bodyguard just like the real Viking’s did. 

Loras is spectacularly unimpressed by our arrival “I wondered how long three nosey girls could wait before invading my privacy”.

I thought I might have the best excuse “Sorry Loras my fault, I’m still trying to understand this world”.

“Really, then you’ll want to have a go won’t you” and he proffers the controller, the screen is frozen with two men advancing on the player with long spears and another behind them knocking an arrow to a bow; not in my view a very viable situation for a man armed with an axe.

“Not at that, it’s a bit too close to what was real life was like for me at your age. I’m either going to be very good at it which would be hard on you, or I’m going to criticise it for being very unrealistic”.

“Well you could have a go on the flight simulator on the PC”.

“You’ll have to show me” and he does, he has all the bits attached, pedals, controls, extra screens so I feel like I’m pretty close to flying for real. I tell him no violence so he switches from his default jet fighter and sets me off flying one of what we call ‘the lawnmowers’ because when they buzz over the house that’s what they sound like. I’m OK taking off and flying round in a simple circle but then I come in to land, Oops, try again, and again. By this time Loras is back to raiding and is telling us he’s reached M-L but essentially has lost interest in what we’re doing. I get frustrated and offer the others a try, Meera bails because she’s already tried it and is as bad as me so Sansa gets behind the controls, goes up, goes round, comes down almost perfectly to cries of “Flukey” from Meera and I, goes round for another go and lands just as well and keeps repeating this for another couple of times before trying some more complicated acrobatics. Eventually she gets one of them wrong and crashes but not before an idea has formed in my mind. “How much do commercial pilots get paid”.

“I’m not sure exactly but plenty, Osha’s dad’s a long haul pilot and her mum doesn’t work so more than enough. We both mentally imagine Osha’s house, family cars etc. I look at Sansa, who has also put two and two together as well, “Something to at last have a look at”. So we do, close down the game and start searching the web. Now I’m a bit wary because it all seems a bit too easy and Sansa is a bit of a ‘keen today, forget it tomorrow’ girl, but by the end of the evening she’s sure she wants to apply to learn to fly.

As I said Sansa can get over excited by new ideas and she credits Loras with the credit for this one, grabs him from behind and starts to behave in an unladylike manner. Loras squirms out of her grip and grumbles that now he’s been stabbed.

Meera rolls her eyes at me, “He’ll grow up sometime soon”.

\------------------------------------

We move along, I’m told by Brandon that I’m going to start school, a couple of weeks before the end of spring term and then go in for the summer term so I take my exams with all the other children. Apparently Talisa is sure I’ll get pass marks if not top grades and then I can stay in school to do my ‘A’ levels, with just a bit of extra coaching from her. Actually I’m quite keen on this as it gets me away from Mrs S who seems to be getting more interested in interrupting me in mid lesson, as far as I can see just to be awkward.

Sansa presses ahead with the pilot training idea, but we’re keeping it quiet from her parents. As his financial meltdown day closes in Brandon is getting more and more nasty, he is clearly under a lot of stress, which has to mean he hasn’t got a way out.

Andy is still officially ‘somewhere in the Inland Sea’, but modern ship tracking software means I can find his ship in about 10 minutes, as presumably can the ‘enemy’. Still no one is at war so it probably isn’t important. We’re mostly e-mailing, some of his brother officers can be a bit silly if we try and Skype, but he does attach the odd photo of him ashore in foreign places and I do find that the more I look at them the more I daydream about him before going to sleep.

Sansa has acquired a boyfriend, quote ‘because everyone else is and I’m not going to be left out’; his name’s Joffrey and fortunately he bears no resemblance to a Joffrey of my previous acquaintance. Actually he seems a nice lad and is very polite to me and when we’re out as threesome doesn’t make me feel like I’m the spare body that I actually am. Brandon will only allow Sansa out with him if either Parker or I are present so I’m becoming Parker’s best friend for not being ‘too busy’. After a while Joffrey’s good manners start to irritate Sansa and he gets accused of preferring me to her. We have our first serious row and for two weeks she goes out with Parker in attendance, after which she decides I’m not as bad as all that, meaning I’ll look the other way then they want to get mildly amorous, whereas Parker takes his job more seriously.

Things in the house got tenser so I decide in the end to go and speak to Brandon. He’s in his study poring over his PC when I know on the door, there’s no reply so I count to `10 and walk in

“I’m busy”.

“And I’m rich, so do you want to talk about it or do I take _my_ money away again”. That shut him up, he swivelled his chair round and pointed at a suitable small chair. I ignore him and stand so we’re pretty much at eye level. “Correct me if I’m wrong but the leases expire so you need a lot of money to buy the landowners off”.

“Yes”,

“How much”, and he tells me, “Are you sure of that value”.

“Yes, I’ve got paperwork here if you want to read it”.

“Later my lawyer and accountant will, but for tonight I’ll trust you. I can afford that, as you well know, but there are two problems. Firstly is the business worth that much, am _I_ getting return on _my_ investment. Secondly if _you_ want to work for _me_ managing the business and continuing to live in this house you need to understand, and it will be written into the contracts in very simple language, that that’s the arrangement; you are a manager or director, call yourself what you like, but you’re working for me. I don’t plan to stray here, medium or long term so you’ll be free from any significant interruptions as long as my accountants are happy with the quarterly returns.”

“Do I have a choice”.

“You have lots of other choices, but I’m offering you this one on a take it or leave it basis. There is one other thing, there’ll be no jobs for the family, just because they’re family”.

“You’d do that to Sansa, she’s been like a sister to you”.

“Yes she has and I think if you can calm down and talk to your daughter instead of shouting at her you might find she’s quite relaxed about the idea”. I’ve had my hard-nosed ‘don’t cross me’ face on up to this point, but I give him a smile, maybe the timing was wrong or maybe it looked a bit smug”.

“Have you talked her into something, because if you have you can take your money and put it where the sun doesn’t shine”.

“I haven’t talked Sansa into anything. I have helped her work out how to do what she wants to do, which was never from the first time we discussed it, to work in the family business”. I give him a slow count of five to think about that last bit “If you’re working for me you have an income, if you’re bankrupt you don’t have money or even a home so Sansa will have to find something to do to earn money and somewhere to live based on what she’s earning. Neither you nor I want to do that to her so unless you have a realistic plan B you need to find me a lawyer and accountant so I can tell them how we’re doing things. I don’t need an answer tonight, but you know better than me what the drop dead date is”.

“I suppose I could let you buy into the business on a 60/40 basis in my favour”.

“So you have 60% of the money you need”, there wasn’t an answer, if he’d been in that position he could have floated the company on the stock market on the same basis.

“You’re a cold callous bitch, you know that don’t you”.

“Yes and there are times I’m trying hard not to be but in this case I don’t care. Like I said sleep on it”.

\----------------------------------------

It all seemed too easy; I got to meet my accountant and my lawyer. The contract wasn’t complicated between Brandon and I, I would pay the money and he would hand over 100% control of the business. Then we got in contact with the landowners agents. I’d seen their prospective agreement with Brandon, so I presumed they’d be happy with the same deal with me. No they wanted more money, a lot more, in fact almost exactly as much as I had and that included the probable value of the sapphire. If I accepted the deal I would be the owner of a medium large business based almost entirely in Westeros with limited scope for enlargement into other markets and no surplus capital. Spelled out like that it didn’t sound very attractive and my accountant was quite plain that he though the price was excessive.


	36. First day at school

While I was puzzling out my financial problems the day came to start school. First this necessitated a trip to the school outfitters. I wasn’t of course going to the same school as Sansa, but the uniform was pretty much the same in a different colour. I hadn’t realised that what she wore every day wasn’t from choice and the whole project nearly stopped there and then. The whole girl’s uniform resembled nothing so much as a slightly kinky costume from a Braavosi pleasure house. By now I was getting the hang of some of the ground rules of Dragon Lands society. I was ‘sorry but that’s completely unacceptable to my cultural and ethnic norms’ and to be honest it was. If I’d been seen wearing it by Septa Mordane she would have dragged me back to my room to be forcibly changed. I also had the solution; I would wear the boy’s uniform, trousers, shirt and smart jacket, apparently called a blazer. I would have to wear a tie, a strange striped piece of cloth like an ineffectual scarf, which required tying in a just so manner.

So suitably attired I went for my first morning, was met and taken to my first class and introduced to them all by the teacher “This our new girl Arya Stark, Sansa Starks distant cousin from Old Westeros. She’s going to be with us for the rest of the year and probably into years 12 and 13. Sansa may have some habits we’re not used to but I’m sure if it’s really necessary you’ll help her to adapt by being positive and encouraging, rather than juts criticising”. I won’t say there was a deadly silence at this point but no one moved to say hello as I took my seat. We started with double maths, which was no great struggle; Marcus had worked my maths on board ship when he made me do navigation calculations and tabulate the rate we were using stores to estimate how much longer we could feed ourselves.

Then we had a short beak. I followed on as everyone else headed outside, perched on seats or benches and started to chatter. I found myself a bench seat and pointedly sat in the middle. A foursome of two boys and two girls came towards the seat, the girls kept coming and sat either side of me the boys stayed standing in front of me. One fo the mdid the introductions.

“Hi, I’m Eddard, these are Caersei, Osha and Tyrion. So you’re really from the original Westeros”.

“Yes”

“What’s it like then”.

“So different from here you need to ask specific questions unless we’re going to skip the rest of the day, while I explain the simple stuff”.

“Is it really so old fashioned”.

“We haven’t had your industrial revolution, so not just no cars, planes, solar panels, electricity, hydrogen fuel, no coal or steam power either. Travel is by sailing ship or horse, work is done by horses or humans making an effort. Oh and running water means the local stream or river”.

“Wow, so how do you make stuff”.

“By hand and by your standards it’s mostly very simple, agricultural tools and weapons, horse tack, clothes”.

“How could you live like that”.

“You get up in the morning and get on with it just like you do. We don’t have schools like this but when you’re young you’re taught what you’ll need to know when you’re an adult, usually what your parents do, so often by them. We consider you adult a lot sooner around 12 to 14 so that was the biggest shock coming here, sailing 60,000 miles then being told I was a child and had to be looked after by someone”.

“That’s a bummer and you really didn’t know we exist. That was the bit of the story we get told about Old Westeros that always seemed so unbelievable”.

“No I set off into the unknown. I certainly didn’t expect to find what I did. I suppose I really expected to find something similar to where I’d come from but I thought it was more likely I’d find a country with nothing but wild animals than something like this”.

It went on in that manner until a bell rang and we all headed into History. Strangely we were revising Medieval Westeros the reign of Eddard the First 1272-1307. It all seemed familiar, the society, the political methods, a civil war, a crusade, the subjugation of a people called the Welsh in what was now the western part of New Westeros.

We finish school for the day and Osha comes over to me. “We have communal revision sessions, it’s at my house tonight, do you want to come”.

“Thanks but todays been a bit tiring and more schoolwork seems excessive”.

“Honest truth, we revise for maybe half an hour then spend an hour and a half to two hours just chatting, mucking about. So it’s more an opportunity to all get ot know each other”.

“You mean for you to interrogate me”.

“Well we’ve known each other for years so yes as the new girl you’re going to be the person we’re most interested in, but we’ll tell you things about us to and explain things about New Westeros. If you’re going to live here you a better idea of things than just living with ‘The Stark Family’”, she does what I’ve learned are called air quotes round these words.

\-----------------------------------------

So an hour after dinner Parker drives me round to Osha’s house. There’s a bit of an uncomfortable couple of minutes while Osha’s dad tells Parker he needn’t wait because he’ll drive me home and Parker seems inclined to refuse, but then we all pile upstairs into Osha’s room. Of course revision last about 10 minutes, because it’s clear they just want to quiz me.

“So what do you want to know. As I said this morning you have to ask specific questions, its’ too big a subject for to just tell you everything”.

“Why did you come over here. I get you’re not a child back there but even so to do what you did if you didn’t know we were here is very risky. You might just have sailed off the edge of the world”

“Don’t be a knob Ed, they’re out of date not stupid; right” that last was said in a ‘tell me I’m right’ sort of voice.

“No we know the worlds a sphere so I knew one option was I’d go round and get to the lands we know exist to the East of us”.

“So back to my question, why do it and please don’t say because you could”.

“Well we’d had a big war for who was running the country, a bit like Eddard the First’s Baron’s war only bigger and at the end of the war I didn’t have any good choices at home so I left to try and find somewhere where I would have better choices”.

“You’d done things in the war aged fourteen”.

“Well it kicked off when I was nine or ten”. There was a pause while they digested this information.

“Does it bother you, everything that happened”.

“Do oyu mean do IO feel traumatised”.

“Yes”.

“No, but then until I came here I had no idea what traumatised meant”.

“That doesn’t stop it happening to you”.

“No, maybe when I got on the boat I as an angry person. I knew that. It wasn’t entirely voluntary me leaving people in positions of power didn’t want me around”.

“Why not”

“They were frightened of me and don’t ask why, I want to leave that behind me”. Caersei shuffled up and started to hug me. For a second I stiffened and was about to tell her to get off but then I thought ‘Why’ and leaned against her.

“You don’t seem an angry person to me”.

“Thank you, I’m trying not to be. The ship’s master and I talked a lot as we were sailing across, he says you can’t send all your life fighting you have to learn to go with things. His example is sailing into the wind”.

“That’s the thing that seems weirdest to me, you went on a ship with a load of men”.

“Yes, social services in M-L were very excited about that, they tried to get the police to act as if it was child abuse, which it wasn’t. When I first got on board I didn’t know or trust any of them, but because of my background I wasn’t frightened of them. After we’d been sailing for a month or two I trusted all of them and some were virtually family and since I don’t have much family left even back in my Westeros that felt good. I think that’s when I stopped being angry”.

“How long were you at sea”.

“Well we set off from the wrong side of Westeros so a month to get round to the western side, but then we went ashore, restocked food and so on before the main part of the trip, then about three months for the main crossing”.

“Gods that must have been boring, three months on a small boat with nothing to do”.

“Well you’d be surprised how much there is to do to keep the ship going. I didn’t just sit at the back and watch, that would have been boring so they, well Marcus, taught me what to do and then of course there was the sea serpent that attacked me, that was bit more exciting than even I wanted”.

“Now you’re kidding us”, the other’s faces said they were in agreement with Tyrion’s statement

“I can show you the scars, but it means taking my top off so the girls had better be comfy that you boys are going to see me topless”.

“You’ve got a bra on haven’t you, so that’s no big deal, no more than they’d see by the pool in the summer”.

“No”.

“You don’t wear a bra”.

“No we don’t have them in Westeros, we only have corsets and I’ve never worn them either, I’ve got so little it’s not worth the effort”. Sansa had persuaded me to try one, it squeezed and felt uncomfortable.

“We’re men of the world Arya”

“No you’re not Ed you’re a randy teenager, outside the pair of you”. Strangely they went without further argument. Once they’d gone I took my top off, well I eased the one shoulder out, which I suppose looked a bit coy.

“You’re going to have to go naked in the showers after sports Arya, is that going to be a problem”.

Great I’d gone from frightening my chauffeur to people worrying about me being embarrassed in a just a couple of months. I took my top off “No, the problem is you all wanting an explanation for the others scars”. Osha was on my left side and could see where the waifs knife had gone in, she looked scared.

“No Arya I think you’re right maybe it’s best we don’t know. The sea serpent though, we don’t think those things are real, they’re like dragons just imaginary”.

“The serpent was just a very large snake”, I thought I’d leave dragons for now and the Night King, White Walkers and wights as well. I got dressed again and the boys were let back in and brought up to date.

“You mentioned Marcus, was he the captain”.

“Yes”, see I’m getting better, not bothering to correct people over the details because I’ve learned it irritates them.

“Is he dishy, was he worth a daydream over”.

“He’s old enough to be my Grandfather, all the crew were old men”, I was saying no more.

“Oh well, you’re here now so we’ll find you a boyfriend”.

“I’m not sure I need a boyfriend”.

“Oh come on, it’s not serious, it’s just nice to have company and it stops other boys trying to be stupid and hassle you”.

“Well I think I’ve sort of got one, at least he thinks he’s my boyfriend”. That did it, I thought it would get them off the subject but instead I had to go through the whole business of Andy Rodney. When I’d finished they seemed quite bothered.

“You make him seem a really nice man but it’s a bit weird him an adult and you just a teenager”.

I’m thinking, ‘good job I wasn’t honest about Marcus’, “It’s weird to you because it’s not what you consider normal, my ideas of normal are very different from yours for obvious reasons. I think the lesson is that different isn’t wrong unless it’s hurting the people involved and I don’t feel hurt by Andy”.

“Mr Bolton said that about how we should treat you before you arrived; that you’d be different in a lot of ways. Actually I don’t think you are you’re just like one of us”.

“Plus the scars and minus a bra”

“Ed you’re being a knob again”.

“No he’s not I think you’re being kind Caersei” wow did I ever imagine myself saying that “But the scars and lack of a bra are signs of different things in my life that will affect me for ever. Tyrion when we were discussing the wars of Eddard you said ‘during the war’ and everyone laughed and Osha explained about your great granny who grew up during the last big war in the 1940’s and was always harping back to it. I can understand her, the really exciting bit of her life was then when she was young. I think I might be the same in fifty years’ time, except none of you will know about my war”.

Osha butted in “Arya I’ve got something important to tell you”.

“Your dad will kill you if you do”

“I don’t care! Arya don’t try and bail Brandon Stark out, the whole of New Westeros is going to make sure he goes bankrupt and if you get in the way they’ll bankrupt you too, however rich you are”.

“Oh, do I get an explanation”.

“Brandon and his side of the family have lorded it over New Westeros for centuries and they’ve been total bastards about it. It’s payback time, just about every other branch of the Stark family plus the other families are united to make it happen. Have you noticed Sansa doesn’t have many friends left”.

“Yes, it does appear to be just her and Meera”.

“That’s because they go back to nursery, all her other friends have moved away so they don’t get hit by the fall out when it happens”.

So I’d left one war and been dumped in another by the judge back in M-L. Was this always going to happen to me. “You said his side of the family”.

“Yes my surnames Starkey, we’re just well separated cousins who changed out names to avoid association with his branch, Starkey, Sharkey, Stirk, there are loads of us. Wait until they call the register in the morning, half the class are your cousins if you go back far enough”.

“I suppose there weren’t that many people on the ships”.

“No and virtually no women so most of us have mitochondrial DNA that’s local. That’s another thing about them, they’re interbred. The original Brandon kept the only original Westeroi women to himself and they’ve been keeping it that way for a millennium”.

“I’m sorry I understand DNA in general but mitochondrial DNA”.

“In your mitochondria, so you inherit it all from your mother and her all from her mother. Very good for tracing that line because it doesn’t get mixed up like the rest of the genes at meiosis. Any girl or woman can tell if that first mother came from the Dragon Lands or Westeros and I can guarantee you Sansa’s will say she comes from Old Westeros”.

“No one’s told any of this, but that’s hardly surprising, you were to be the goose that laid the golden egg, but it won’t work because the landowners can just up the price to any number they want and they will”.

Well after that the conversation ran out of steam quite quickly and we split up. Tyrion only oved three doors away so he got to walk home but Ed and I got a lift from Mr Starkey. When I got back ot he house I went and found Parker sat in the kitchen. “Ah good, you’re back I can get off then”.

“Can you do me a favour first”.

“I’d imagine so”

“I need you to be outside the door when I tell Mr Stark some bad news”.

“That bad”.

“Yes and if he overreacts I don’t want a fight to start in case I have to really hurt him. He’s a good bit bigger than me”.

“No problem”.

So in I went to his study. I’m not going to repeat what he called me and he made so much noise that not only did Parker come in, but Sansa and Mrs Stark came downstairs so by the time we’d finished they both knew how things stood, which was that the Stark family were going to be bankrupt in just over two months.


	37. A bit of a Crisis

Breakfast the next morning was a quiet affair, Sansa and I bolted out food and left as fast as we could. Mrs Stark hadn’t come down and Brandon was sat with a face that just said, ‘Don’t talk to me’. So we didn’t.

We both came home for dinner with plans to go round to Meera’s as soon as we’d eaten. No one appeared to be around so I went into the kitchen to find Parker sat in his usual seat out of the way at the side doing a crossword. As soon as he realised it was me he stood up.

“You and I need to go talk to Sansa”.

“That sounds like you need to talk to Sansa but she’ll need me when you’re done”.

“Pretty much”.

We went out and found Sansa in her room. As soon as she saw Parker she knew something was wrong. He didn’t beat around the bush.

“Your dad sacked everyone this morning, including me. Then he started ringing round the businesses telling them to shut up and sack all the staff. Then he went into the garage and tried to get a can of petrol. Davis and I were still there cleaning out our personal effects so we stopped him and tried to quieten him down but he hit Davis so we restrained him and called an ambulance. They sedated him and he’s in that smart clinic on the north side of town. I’m sorry Sansa, he’s clearly not well”.

Sansa asked “Is Davis OK”.

“He’s lost his job, which isn’t good news at his age, but if you mean did your dad hurt him no, he wasn’t thinking he just flailed his fists around”.

“Where’s mum”. Sansa had sat down on the bed, I went over and sat next to her and took her hand.

Parker looked even more embarrassed “She left last night, no one knows exactly when. We think her girlfriend came and picked her up”.

“Girlfriend!” Sansa virtually shrieked the word.

“Ah, you thought she was playing mixed doubles with one of the men. I’m sorry me duck she’s been playing ladies doubles for years”. I’d never heard Parker use that local colloquialism before, he’d always been very correctly spoken. Obviously now he wasn’t employed he felt able to a less formal manner of speech.

“And you knew!”.

“I think the whole tennis club knows and it’s not my job to tell you that sort of thing about your mother, well not normally, but no one else was willing to stop”.

Sansa just sat there, Parker stood in front of her. I thought some food might help us all. “So we need to eat Sansa, Parker can I ask one last favour and you come and help us in the kitchen. I can probably mange the cooking but I’ve no idea where anything is”.

“I’ve nothing else to do”.

“Do you have anywhere else to go”.

“A hotel, Davis and I agreed to share a room tonight, then I think he’s off back to his parents out west”.

“If I re-employed everyone, would they all come back”.

“I should think so, if we can work for Mr Stark I certainly can work for you and I’d imagine the rest will. I’ve not heard anyone complain about you”.

“Right let get some food then you get on to the others and get them back. Come on Sans you need to eat something”.

\---------------------------------

“Helen, it’s Arya I need a bit of help”.

“What can I do”.

“I need to get in touch with the judge who controls my money or I’m going to run out and be homeless”.

“Seriously”

“Yes”.

“Do I need to send Marcus up to just bring you back”.

“No, I’m safe it’s just that the Starks have run out of money so I need to pay a few people and meet household bills”.

“OK, I can get in touch with the family courts tomorrow morning. How do we get in touch with you”.

“I’m supposed to be in school but I think for one day this is more important so I’ll stop in. Just get them to Skype me. They can do that can’t they”.

“I’m sure they can manage that”.

Well that was the easy bit done, now for the hard bit. Parker had found that Roberts had prepared a large cold collation and left it in the fridge, enough for tonight and probably tomorrow as well so we’d eaten, or rather Parker and I had. Sansa had sat there pushing a piece celery round her plate and was now sat in my study room staring at the wall. “Sometime you have to say something big sister and it’s a good time to start because I’ve got the time to listen”.

“When we first met I hated having to have anything to do with you. I’ve been an only child for nearly 18 years and I suppose that makes you a bit selfish and in this house you’re not discouraged from being selfish and I knew what daddy was up to and I assumed he’d succeed and after that you’d hate me and now you’re all I’ve got keeping me from a life on the streets”. I’d sat down next to her and she had her head on my shoulder. Periodically she was sniffing, I hate people who sniff, blowing your nose is something we knew how to do in Westeros.

“This is new Westeros in the twentyfirst century I’m not saving you from actual death and starvation, at worst you’d end up in a children’s home like I did”.

“I couldn’t cope with that, they’d all be after me, like the rest of New Westeros is after my father”.

I had to concede that last point might be accurate, she still wasn’t… but that was the old world my old world, a world I wouldn’t have put Sansa in under any circumstances I could influence. “Well in between hating me and snivelling over me like you are now you’ve actually made a good impression of being a caring big sister, so we stick together and we’ll be alright”. She sat up and found a tissue and blew.

“Sorry that gets at you doesn’t it”.

“Yes, stupid isn’t it, all the things in my life and the easiest way to wind me up sit and sniff”.

She giggled, which I took as a good sign “So here I am, I’ve blown my nose, thus avoiding upsetting the most important person in my life. Now I just have to come to terms with my father’s nervous breakdown and my mother being a lesbian”.

“The important difference is that you can blow your nose, you have control. The other things are out of your control so you just roll with them as best you can”.

“I suppose so. You know the most stupid thing”

“What”.

“I can’t get the idea out of my head that my mum conceived me thinking of some woman doing whatever they do so she didn’t have to think of what was actually happening. It’s no wonder she always treated me like an unwanted piece of dirty laundry. And the bit about me stretching her, that can’t matter much between two girls can it”.

I let that one go unanswered and Sansa didn’t seem bothered by my lack of reply. I was just thinking, ‘what do I say next’, I didn’t want to let her just sit and brood in silence when my PC beeped with a Skype invite from Andy.

“Are you alright”.

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be”.

“Helen told Marcus you’re on your own and out of money”.

It was a secret society, the ‘keep track of Arya gang’ “Kyrotome whispers, still if you will all talk about me behind my back, you deserve to get confused”.

“If you talked to me more often directly, oh hi Sansa are you OK”.

“Hi Andy, I’m having a bit of stressful few days, but Arya’s looking after me so we’ll be fine”.

“OK now I’m really confused, will someone please tell me what’s going on”.

So we did; surprisingly Sansa probably said three times as much as me, which I thought was good. Anything she was willing to talk about was good for her although the bit about stretching her mum made Andy pull a face. If I love him that’s why, he’s so innocent and cute inside, while being nicely hunky outside.

“So you two can manage without my help”.

“You’re thousands of miles away, what help would that be”.

“Actually I’m only 1500 miles away; we’re on a goodwill visit to Mushu on our way home so I’ll be passing New Westeros in a couple of weeks”.

“You didn’t tell me”.

“It’s called military security we don’t discuss things we’re doing in advance with civilians”.

Sansa leaned over my shoulder “You stay on board ship in Mushu. Don’t go fraternising with locals or Arya’s ditching you”.

Andy laughed, “That’s a bit of ancient history Sansa, no one up here’s practiced happy families for centuries”.

“So you say”.

I had no idea what Sansa was talking about but it had clearly taken her mind off her own problems. “To come back to the principle reason for this call, we’re fine as long as the family court releases some of my money so I can pay a few bills. We both need to stop here until the end of the academic year to take our exams so we need to pay for the gas and electric and to be honest at least a couple of staff”.

“Not keen on doing your own washing and cooking then”.

“Says the man who has a seaman doing exactly that for him as we speak”.

The banter ran on for little while longer and then we closed the call.

“Time for bed then”

“Can I stop in your room”.

“You mean share my king size double bed”.

“Yes, it’s not as though you use all of it. I’ve come in in the morning and you’re curled up in a little ball in about a quarter of it”.

“So you’ve been coming into my room and spying on me asleep and now you want to share a bed with me. Is a little bit of mummy coming out here”, as soon as I said it I thought, ‘that was probably too soon’.

“In view of what they do where your boyfriends going you need to widen your horizons, but no I thought about that hard last night and I’ve never daydreamed of you or Meera or any other girl so I think that’s mum’s problem not mine”.

“It’s a bit unfair to a call it your mum’s problem, it takes all sorts”.

“No not like that, it was her problem because she was stuck with dad”.

“Do you know why”.

“Money it was always money with those two”.

“What is this thing with Mushu you and Andy were talking about”.

“Hundreds of years ago when no one, and I mean non one, went up there they had a rather kinky life style”.

“Tell”.

“Well essentially it was family orgies, but not in an incestuous way. You left home as soon as you reached puberty; as soon as things ‘down there’ started to change and you go and live with your new family, where no one is related to you and then everyone but the kids, and the very old women who do the baby sitting, has an orgy. They lived in very harsh conditions so the idea was partly if someone died you were never alone and also the old ladies who don’t want to don’t have frustrated husbands because within the family it’s share and share alike. Of course as soon as they made regular contact with civilisation it had to stop”.

“Why”.

“Like I said, kinky, everyone in the same room, different men on different nights”.

“Maybe different women too; someone like your mum could fit in to a family and not have to play so much tennis”.

“It’s saying things like that that makes you sound really weird Arya. Please don’t, I have enough weird to cope with for now”.

So I didn’t, but I thought it, all the fuss we put into one partner and all the trouble when it goes wrong, but for some reason we keep doing it. Humans no one could invent a species this strange”.


	38. Marcus comes North

Well that was easy; sorting out the money and my care arrangements I mean not sleeping with Sansa, which was hell, she rolls all over the place all night. Curled up in one corner, ha! I virtually ended up on the floor twice. There was just one, not problem, but interesting consequence. Technically Sansa was now an adult and could look after herself, in the eyes of the law at least, but the judge wasn’t happy with her looking after me. “The young lady is under a lot of stress at the moment. I think you need an older person with you”, so sayeth the judge and when I tried to argue I got the eye, she knew who was in charge, so here we go again.

“Hello Marcus, welcome aboard the Skylark”.

“Nice idea, but if I shout ‘cast off’ what happens”.

“Parker will probably come and give you a strange look, he does a very good ‘Oh don’t be so silly’. Usually for teenage girls, but I’m sure he could treat you to one if I asked him nicely”.

“Parker, the man who picked me up from the airport. Sorry but my memories getting worse with names”.

“Yes , he was the number 2 chauffeur but now he’s odd jobs. Roberts use to be the cook and is really looking after all of us, but she likes ‘a man about the house’, by which she means someone to do things she thinks are unladylike, like unblocking drains or anything involving heavy lifting”.

“And they wouldn’t let them take responsibility for you”.

“I’m employing them, unfair power dynamic, ‘go to bed this instant’, ‘you’re sacked’; even I can see the logic of that”.

“I’m not used to servants, could we do without them if I do the domestic stuff”.

“One you’re retired, two I’ve tasted your idea of food for four months. My bowels may only just be recovering from a surfeit of pickled cabbage. Three I wanted to keep more of them on so they could find other jobs at their leisure, but the rest chose to go straight away. I’m afraid I’ve got used to them and I’m sure you can too. They’re just a very small crew”.

“So you envisage me parenting two teenage girls, an activity which I sent most of my life avoiding by being at sea”.

“But you did such a great job with me while we were at sea, you know you can and you know you’ll enjoy it. After all Sansa hasn’t heard all your pet sayings fifty times yet, and there’ll be more; I’ve made a few friends at school, at some point you can expound your wisdom to them as well”. By this time Parker had come back from taking Marcus’ luggage upstairs.

“Does she treat you like this Parker”.

“No, she’s always been very civil and polite with me and anyone else in my presence. It appears to be some sort of special treatment reserved for you. To placate Roberts you are in Mr Stark’s old room, up the stairs, left and at the end of the corridor. The young ladies are at the other end, Miss Arya at the very end on the left and Miss Sansa on the right”.

“Roberts thinks I need to be separated from the ladies by a long corridor”.

“Roberts would actually rather have you in the servants block with us. Miss Arya on the other hand wants Roberts and me in here in the main house. We have reached a compromise”.

“You sound like a man who enjoys a good compromise”.

“In this house with Mr and Mrs Stark it was rarely achieved, but I’m sure we’re now on course for better times”.

And we were, despite his protestations Marcus got used to servants very easily, and the servants got use to him in their way “He does chatter on a bit doesn’t he” was Roberts opinion.

Sansa had the biggest problem, we were in her room late one evening.

“Arya can we have a chat, a very private and confidential chat you will tell no one about this chat”.

“Not even Meera”.

“Least of all Meera”.

“Of course you can and I get the message, mum’s the word”.

“I keep dreaming about Marcus”.

“Dreaming or daydreaming”.

“Well that’s the trouble, I’m dreaming about daydreaming about Marcus”.

“I shan’t tell him, although I’m sure he’d be quite relaxed about it if I did. They’re your dreams you don’t control them”.

“No but it’s like they’re nudging me in that direction”.

“And do you want to be nudged in that direction”. She went bright red so the answer was obvious “Look your daydreams are between you and you, no one else is involved”.

“So you’re saying you don’t think it’s a bit kinky”.

“I’ve told you, and Marcus would give you a whole lecture on the subject, you need to relax a bit about what’s kinky if by kinky you want to mean, ‘what I don’t want to do’ or at least ‘admit to doing’, because of course the two are very different things”.

“So you think it’s OK”.

“I think it’s whatever you think it is, if it’s not OK in your head, then it’s not, otherwise it is”.

“But my heads confused, the dream bit seems to want to, the more rational bit is uncomfortable with the idea”.

“Then if your daydreams are organised by the rational bit leave him out of them”.

“I’m not sure I can, it’s like not thinking about something, you can’t do it if you try to”.

“Well focus on someone else then, where’s Joffrey in these situations”, it was a good question about other things than Sansa’s daydreams, I hadn’t seen Joffrey for a while.

“He’s being very polite and trying not to let me realise he wants to dump me”.

“No, he’s trying to get you to dump him, the spineless …..” I nearly swore “So if he hasn’t the guts, prove you have and dump him, tomorrow. Don’t get emotional, just say you know it isn’t working anymore and it’s over”.

“That doesn’t solve the problem of who I daydream about in fact it makes it worse. I was only stringing him along so I could daydream about him instead of anyone else”.

I didn’t have an answer to this and while I’m sure Marcus would have I wasn’t going to let Sansa down by asking him, even indirectly.

“It’s easy for you you’ve got Andy”.

“No it’s not easy for me with Andy, forget daydreaming, which I do about a lot of people, including Marcus and sometimes even you. What’s hard about Andy is that a really nice person thinks he’s going to spend the rest of his life with me and I’m pretty sure he’s not and I’ve told him so and he ignores me and says he’s prepared to wait until I change my mind and I don’t know what to do about that”. As soon as I’d said it I wished I hadn’t. Every time I work my way through this line of thought I end up feeling like a total shit. Sansa however had other things on her mind.

“Hang on did you say Marcus and me, together or at different times”.

“Which ever makes you feel the most disgusted with me. I don’t care! I do care about my real not relationship with real Andy and it’s clear you haven’t picked up on that!”. Oops, rant mode and I realised a tear was running down my cheek. Everything went very silent. I took a deep breath and tried not to make it sound like a sob and wiped the tear away with my finger.

Sansa grabbed me and hugged me, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m being selfish and worse I’m being childish, but with my dad still in hospital and mum on the other side of town and apparently not wanting to even meet me”.

“You’re displacing your anxiety about the big things onto a little thing and I’m not realising either” and at this point it all degenerated a bit. Had Parker or Marcus come in, and thank the old gods they didn’t, we would have looked a bit of a mess. It took a few minutes but in the end we both came to a stop, cleaned ourselves up.

As I wiped my nose Sansa said “We’ll be OK if we stick together though”.

“Yes I’m sure we will”.

“I’m going to bed now”

“Me too, goodnight”.

Footnote: Some years later I told Marcus about Sansa’s daydreaming habits. His reaction and reply was exactly what I expected.


	39. We come to some conclusions

So we got to the end of the year, Sansa and I took our exams, then we left Winterfell and moved to M-L. I said goodbye to Talisa and thanked her for all her efforts. We’d have split up anyway as she’d finished her doctorate and was moving from New Westeros to somewhere else, I never did find out where. We’d got on OK but it wasn’t the sort of relationship that was going to last, I was 16 and she was 22, which in this society means a lot.

Stark Enterprises was taken over by the assorted vengeful relatives.

Brandon left medical care and the last we heard had a job in the government tax offices.

We never saw Mrs Stark again.

Osha’s father not only forgave her for telling me, but arranged for us to be allowed to stay in the house as long as we paid a reasonable rent, but by the end of term we were ready to go.

So back to M-L. Sansa, having got some quite creditable ‘A’ level results went to train to fly for Air M-L.

My friendly judge decided that she would trust Helen and Marcus with my care, but still no access to my money, the trustees would meet all reasonable expenses, which to be fair they always did.

Marcus and I bought a new house in the right neighbourhood to get me to a decent school and I got organised to go to school to get my ‘A’ levels of which more in a minute. Sansa came too, but learning to fly is a high intensity course so we didn’t see a lot of each other.

Andy came back to a six month shore posting in M-L. We met, he did the gentlemanly thing and took me out for a meal and we were allowed to go unchaperoned. When Helen asked Marcus if he was happy with this he laughed and said he thought Andy was ‘a big boy and can hold her off if he has to’. When we got back there may have been a bit more than a chaste kiss, I went to bed feeling very relaxed about things. What had been nearly, only nearly mind, more relaxing was our conversation over dinner.

“Look I know you keep saying you’ll wait and I’ll change my mind, but I’m not convinced I’ll ever change it to become a happy officer’s wife and mother and it’s making me feel like a total shit for leading you on”.

“And I’m sure I don’t want you to become a happy officer’s wife and mother. My family have been playing this game for several generations and I’ve seen more navy families split up because the wife wants the husband at home than I’d like to think about, including my own parents. I want to try something different, I want a wife who does her own thing and when we pass intense and exciting because we haven’t seen each other for a while, but then we both head off to do our own things again”.

“And what about children”.

“My brother’s got three already, The Dragon lands can afford to have you and me not add to the problem. If you get to the biological clock ticking point, and I’ve known a few career women who have, then we rethink and if necessary I jack the Navy in so I can be a proper father”.

It hadn’t been a long exchange, it fitted nicely between sweet and cheese and biscuits, but it made me feel a lot better about life in general.

“Of course there’s a price”.

I had a good idea what came next “There always is”.

“I really have to take you to meet my parents and since that’s separately, that’s two rather nervous evenings for you I’m guessing”.

“I’ll survive; I may have to insist you take Helen and Marcus out to dinner in retaliation”.

“That’s hardly a problem”.

“Good because Helen never accepts things from me to say thank you but I think she might have more trouble saying no to you”.

“Settled then”.

“Do I get warned what each visit will entail so I can prep my answers”.

“Well you’ve already spiked mother’s guns because she will simply want to warn you not to do what she did and you aren’t planning to”.

“And your father”.

“All bark no bite, you’ll wrap him round your little finger before the meat course arrives. Plus he’s already met Marcus, a man who in his own words ‘is a master mariner of the highest order, if slightly mad to take on a teenage girl for such a voyage’”.

“My age doesn’t worry him”.

“A lot of naval officers don’t marry until they’re nearer thirty than twenty and then marry younger women. The Navy likes us wedded to our careers in the early stages. I’ve just picked my woman a bit earlier than most do”.

That was another irritatingly loveable thing about Andy, he never once called me a girl.

By comparison my conversation with Marcus over ‘A’ levels was not as straight forward.

“So what are you planning to do”.

“Maths, psychology and biology”.

“Why”.

“Because it will get me into University in either M-L or Kyrotome to study Anthropology and Psychology, both universities do a joint degree”

“Why do you want you study anthropology and psychology”

That was two, only four more to go “Firstly because I want a reason to travel to different places and study the people who live there. Secondly because if I’m on the autistic spectrum and don’t naturally interact with people in a normal manner I can learn to do so as an academic exercise”. I noticed his fingers moving I’d got two points for that answer.

“Why”.

“Because it mixes my love of travel with a worthwhile career that won’t be repetitive”.

“Why won’t it be repetitive”

“Because different groups will provide different challenges; research methods may be a constant but that’s like the daily business of sailing a ship and you know I can do that sort of repetitive if the view over the bows every morning is new and exciting”, only one more.

“You’ve been counting we both know there should be one more why, but you’re a lot cleverer than I am so you think it up”.

“Well it’s not a why, it’s how does Andy fit into this”.

“He and I have talked about that. He’s no fool for all he joined the navy and I told him that as well. I think you’ve got as good a chance of being happy with him as anyone. You dropped very lucky that day, if he’d been at sea”.

“Don’t, you’re scaring me, I’m not saying he’s the answer to all my problems, but you’re right he gets a lot closer than most men”.

So there we were then, I was ready for the start of term just like any other teenager in M-L. Somehow I had a horrible suspicion that over the years what had happened to me during the war and immediately afterwards, would be the biggest part of my life and the bit that stuck in my memory the longest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this the end of the story, I certainly didn’t think so earlier, ‘A’ levels, a degree, then off to do research but at the moment I’m not sure; so there will be a pause before ‘Book 2’ if there is one, not least because I’ve half written something different and it needs finishing first.
> 
> Comments would be appreciated, suggestions may even be incorporated.


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